The record seizure demonstrates what experts say is Saudi Arabia’s growing role as the drug capital of the Middle East, driving demand and becoming the primary destination for smugglers from Syria and Lebanon. Though it is no longer produced legally, counterfeit drugs carrying the captagon name are regularly seized in the Middle East, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Drug busts of captagon in Saudi Arabia and around the region have grown over time. Felbab-Brown says drug policies in the Middle East have focused on the harshest of responses. “Unlike large parts of the world [that] have walked away from such rigid and mostly ineffective or outright counterproductive policies, the Middle East has often doubled down on them,” she said.

Source: Egypt Independent September 03, 2022 17:55 UTC