Ya Ba - Rise and Fall in Popularity in Thailand

Rise and Fall in Popularity in Thailand

Yaba tablets were sold at gas stations and commonly used by Thai truckers to stay awake. After many horrific long-distance bus accidents, they were outlawed by the Thai government in 1970. The deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's campaign from 2003 onwards to eliminate drug-trafficking has further helped to curtail widespread use, in particular, use of the drug by bus drivers is not as widespread as it was in 1980s.

As a result of the Thai government crackdown, restricted supply has had a huge effect on prices, further curtailing the popular use of Yaba. In 1999-2000, when buying a straw-full (around 20 pills) in Chiang Rai province, North Thailand, Yaba was sold for around ฿10 per pill and commonly used on the go-go circuit and by young 'MTV' clubbers. Retail prices have risen from 100–150 baht (US$3–4) to 250–450 baht per pill as a result of the crackdown, though it remains a popular party drug.

In 2000, Yaba was smuggled across the loose border with Burma and from the neighbouring Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai provinces of Thailand. Illegal traffickers often marketed or 'promoted' their product by claiming that the pills contained up to 6% heroin. Rumour suggested it was produced by the corrupt personnel of Wa State Army in Burma.

Read more about this topic:  Ya Ba

Famous quotes containing the words rise and, rise, fall and/or popularity:

    the petals creak and
    begin to rise.
    They rise and recurl
    to a bud’s form
    and clamp shut.
    I wait in the dark.
    Denise Levertov (b. 1923)

    So in majestic cadence rise and fall
    The mighty undulations of thy song,
    O sightless bard, England’s Monides!
    And ever and anon, high over all
    Uplifted, a ninth wave superb and strong,
    Floods all the soul with its melodious seas.
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)

    One kind of justice is that which is manifested in distributions of honour or money or the other things that fall to be divided among those who have a share in the constitution ... and another kind is that which plays a rectifying part in transactions.
    Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)

    In everything from athletic ability to popularity to looks, brains, and clothes, children rank themselves against others. At this age [7 and 8], children can tell you with amazing accuracy who has the coolest clothes, who tells the biggest lies, who is the best reader, who runs the fastest, and who is the most popular boy in the third grade.
    Stanley I. Greenspan (20th century)