Yaba literally means “crazy medicine” in Thai. It used to be called Yama, literally “horse drug”. Sometimes it is called "bikers' coffee" and "kamikaze". Whatever they are called they are tablets containing a potent and highly addictive mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine. This drug combination has been widely used illicitly, especially in Southeast Asian nations.
I have photographed Yaba related issues all over Thailand. But by far the majority of that coverage has been in the country’s far south where Yaba use is widespread. It is especially popular with the youth and the urban middle class. Yaba is now the main form of methamphetamine in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, as well as Vietnam. It is however, typically manufactured in Myanmar.
Yaba, or 'crazy medicine' in Thai, is a tablet form of methamphetamine, and a very powerful stimulant. Introduced to East Asia during World War II to enhance soldiers' performance. Mixed with caffeine and usually 30 per cent methamphetamine, the drug is a central nervous system stimulant. Although it comes in a pill form, yaba is usually crushed and smoked. Users get an intense 'burst' of energy, followed by increased activity, decreased appetite and a general sense of well-being. Once the effects wear off, the user 'crashes' and experiences prolonged periods of sleep and depression.
Like other forms of methamphetamine, long-term abuse of yaba can produce strong dependence. Users develop tolerance and require increasing amounts of the drug to feel the same effects. Excessive doses can result in convulsions, seizures and death from respiratory failure, stroke or heart failure. The drug can trigger aggressive and violent behaviour, and psychiatric disorders have also been associated with its use. Recently, the drug has been spreading toward the Indian subcontinent; in 2007, a record 1,200,000 Yaba tablets were confiscated in Bangladesh where there is a potentially very large market.
The development and spread of Yaba in the region has been opportunistic. As UNODC expert Jeremy Douglas explains, "it is a drug that is cheap to manufacture and cheap to purchase. You introduce it somewhere and develop a market fairly quickly because it is cheap and highly addictive." With one tablet costing as little as US$ 1 in Cambodia to US$ 5 in Bangkok, the drug is very easy to produce if in possession of the necessary precursor materials. "You can have labs producing 10,000 tablets per hour hidden anywhere", he adds. Unlike geographically confined, crop-based drugs, such as opium in Afghanistan, synthetic drugs like Yaba can be produced anywhere in the world where there are weaknesses in law enforcement and in precursor chemical regulations. The portable and clandestine nature of production also makes it difficult to monitor and assess the situation systematically. "At the moment the information base is quite fractured", says Douglas. "In some parts of the world, we know it is there - we just don't know the extent to which it is."