Yaa Baa Addiction in Thailand

Yaa Baa addiction remains a problem in Thailand despite all previous attempts to eradicate the drug. A few years ago there was a big crack down and many of the dealers began turning up dead all over the country; over 2,500 ended up being erradicated during that particular outburst of bullet-flu. Despite this yaa baa addiction in Thailand remains a problem.

It is not just Thailand that is having dealing with Yaa Baa, but so are other countries in the area; Cambodia seems to have a huge problem with the drug. The devastation caused by this addiction is easy to see and much crime is associated with users desperate to get a regular supply. Most days on Thai news you will see some poor sap in handcuffs with a bag full of red Yaa Baa tablets in front of him; these fellas don't look like the criminal masterminds that the media sometimes likes people to believe. These lower level Yaa Baa dealers most often do it as a way to feed their habit but it is these who are most likely to catch bullet-flu or end up in jail.

Yaa Baa is methamphetamine and the words are Thai for 'crazy medicine'. It was once known as Yaa Maa which means 'horse medicine' because it allowed people to work like animals. For a few years truck driver could drive night and day while taking this drug and it was only when they began going on killing sprees and jumping off buildings that the public began to worry about the drug. Now it is completely illegal and called crazy medicine. I have had some experience with this nasty stuff and it leaves you feeling disassociated and full of paranoia. While I was going through treatment at Wat Thamkrabok there were quite a few patients who had permanently caused themselves brain damage by using this drug. It isn't just the Yaa Baa that is the problem, but the fact that many users use solvents to come down off it. Yaa Baa mixed with paint thinner car really fry your brain. It is the cause of a lot of suicides and murders.

Thanks to temples like Wat Thamkrabok there is hope for those who have developed problems with the drug. If people can be treated before they do permanent damage to their brains, or get too involved in crime, there can be the chance of recovery. Yaa Baa addiction in Thailand seems to be worse in the big urban areas; it is tempting to blame it all on the breakdown of traditional Thai society, but that seems too simplistic an answer.