Bulgaria's major synthetic drug problem appears to arise from amphetamines and heroin. This is the illegal synthetic drugs that I am talking about, obviously. The problem with the legal synthetic drugs comprising prescription opioids and other synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, besides the legal drugs alcohol and tobacco, need not even be stated as this is common across the world given that they are all state sanctioned and enable the elites to openly amass wealth at the cost of public health.
Iran was the main source of methamphetamine to Bulgaria in the past. However, with increased focus on it by society, methamphetamine manufacture appears to be gradually shifting to Afghanistan. Iran, however, is the primary supplier of methamphetamine to Europe whereas Afghanistan, in addition to Myanmar, appears to cater to the demand in the Middle East. The United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC) states in its World Drug Report 2020 that 'Most of the clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia has traditionally been in the Islamic Republic of Iran, being manufactured both for the local market and for export to countries in East and South-East Asia (including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) as well as for export to Central Asia and the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan) and to Europe (including Bulgaria, France, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United Kingdom). However, the Islamic Republic of Iran is not the main source of the methamphetamine found in other countries in the Near and Middle East/SouthWest Asia (with the exception of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic). The main source countries for other countries in this subregion seem to continue to be countries in East and South-East Asia. The extent of clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Islamic Republic of Iran actually appears to be declining, while manufacturing is rapidly increasing in neighbouring Afghanistan.' Since amphetamine is so easy to synthesize in small-scale laboratories, with the ingredients being freely available, it is the stimulant of choice for those members of society that cannot access or afford cocaine - the stimulant of the elites. The existence of the synthetic pharmaceutical industry across the world, involving multiple players, makes it easy to manufacture amphetamine in numerous places. It is this ease of manufacture of amphetamines that has led to the mushrooming of amphetamine laboratories not just in the source countries of Iran, Afghanistan and Myanmar, but also in the countries that are the consumers. UNODC reports the widespread existence of amphetamine laboratories across Europe and the constant effort to dismantle these illegal manufacturing units. It reports that 'Of the total number of amphetamine laboratories reported dismantled worldwide in the period 2014–2018 (749 laboratories), more than half were dismantled in Europe (417), most notably in Western and Central Europe (316) and, to a lesser degree, in Eastern Europe (100). Overall, 16 European countries reported the dismantling of clandestine amphetamine laboratories over the period 2014– 2018, in particular the Netherlands. The Netherlands, followed by Poland, Lithuania and Belgium, were the most frequently identified source countries of amphetamine in Europe. Amphetamine from South-Eastern Europe was reported as being mainly sourced from Bulgaria and Turkey. However, it is likely that such statistics are heavily skewed as a number of countries, in particular in the Middle East, where large-scale amphetamine manufacture has been reported, have a very limited capacity to dismantle laboratories and thus are not appropriately represented in these statistics.' From this, we see that Bulgaria appears to be manufacturing amphetamine for markets possibly in South-East Europe. The main problem with amphetamines, all synthetic drugs actually, is that when a particular synthesized compound becomes a matter of concern and is placed under regulatory control, the pharmacist immediately synthesizes a suitable replacement so that the drug can be still marketed under the same name. UNODC reports that 'Instability and conflict in the Middle East contributed to the trafficking in falsified “captagon” in the subregion. A lack of control and monitoring led to an increase in the manufacture of “captagon” tablets in some countries over the period 2014–2018, which turned into an additional source of income for terrorist and insurgency groups in the Middle East. Captagon was originally the trademarked brand name of a medicinal product containing fenetylline, until the substance was placed under international control in 1986. While the diversion of fenetylline from existing stocks might have continued until the end of the 1990s, those stocks, some of which were apparently located in Bulgaria, became depleted. However, the “captagon” name and logo continued to be used even though the composition of the counterfeit tablets had changed, and increasingly, seized “captagon” tablets were found to contain amphetamine, often mixed with caffeine and other substances.'
Besides the amphetamine problem that Bulgaria faces, there is also the opium problem involving heroin and other opium derivatives. Bulgaria is part of the notorious Balkan Route that forms the highway for opium and its derivatives arriving from Afghanistan and the Far East into Europe. UNODC reported that 'The world’s single largest heroin trafficking route continues to be the so-called “Balkan route”, along which opiates from Afghanistan are shipped to Iran (Islamic Republic of), Turkey, the Balkan countries and to various destinations in Western and Central Europe. Not counting seizures made in Afghanistan itself, countries along the Balkan route accounted for 58 per cent of the global quantities of heroin and morphine seized in 2018. A further 8 per cent of those global seizures were reported by countries in Western and Central Europe, whose markets are supplied to a great degree by heroin and morphine that is trafficked along the Balkan route.' UNODC reports that Bulgaria forms a transit point for heroin from Afghanistan to eastern and western Europe. It states that 'The Islamic Republic of Iran reported that 75 per cent of the morphine and 75 per cent of the heroin seized on its territory in 2018 had been trafficked via Pakistan, while the remainder had been smuggled directly into the country from Afghanistan. Typically, heroin is then smuggled to Turkey (70 per cent of all the heroin seized in the Islamic Republic of Iran in both 2016 and 2017) and from there along the Balkan route to Western and Central Europe, either via the western branch of the route via Bulgaria to various western Balkan countries or, to a lesser extent, via the eastern branch of the route via Bulgaria and then to Romania and Hungary, before reaching the main consumer markets in Western and Central Europe.'
The current political dispensation in Bulgaria, as I understand and I might be wrong, is closely allied with Russia and Vladimir Putin. The hold that Russia has, besides the US and UK, on opium originating from Afghanistan, makes it easy for its ally, Bulgaria, to ensure that the opium gets distributed to Russia as well, besides other European nations.
Given the hunky-dory picture that all this represents, one might say that Bulgaria is in a good space, and that there is no need to change anything. Unfortunately, opioids, methamphetamine and other amphetamines kill the most in terms of drug deaths, cannabis kills none. Who are the leading opponents of cannabis legalization and leading enforcers of global anti-cannabis policy? The countries involved the most in heroin, morphine, amphetamines and methamphetamines. They put on a mask of concern about harms from drugs, produce, sell and consume the most dangerous synthetic drugs and vehemently oppose cannabis legalization worldwide while clandestinely feeding their habits and protecting their sources. They use arms and armies to protect and promote their synthetic drug habits, and drug money to fund and wage a war on cannabis everywhere, pushing man and planet ever closer to death on massive scales and away from the safe, healing cannabis herb...
So, if Bulgaria wishes to protect and safeguard its people, especially the youth, the elderly, the sick, the poorest and the working classes, rather than catering to the drug habits of the elite ruling classes, it will do better to follow Germany in legalizing cannabis for adult recreational use rather than follow Vladimir Putin to the synthetic grave, speeded up by the use of amphetamines and the addiction to war and opium. As in every country in the world, the elite ruling upper classes are the ones determining drug policy, and they not only want their synthetic drugs but they also want to get rich selling them to as many people as possible. The legalization of cannabis will be a severe blow to legal and illegal synthetic drug manufacturers and peddlers. It will safeguard the youth and reduce crime - the stated reasons for Germany legalizing cannabis. It will provide enough cannabis as medicine to ensure affordable universal healthcare for the public, especially the poorest people, the working classes, the elderly and the sick - the unstated reason why Germany legalized cannabis for recreational use. Cannabis legalization will also reduce the black market for all drugs, not just cannabis. It will reduce the flow of money into the black market from where it is used to fund armed militias and other crimes against the world. Cannabis legalization will create a more sustainable economy, one that is not dependent on petrochemicals, synthetic pharmaceuticals, alcohol, tobacco, non-biodegradable plastics and other such industries that are pushing the world to the brink of human-induced climate disaster.
Bulgaria, like most European countries, does not have climatic conditions suitable for the large-scale cultivation of cannabis outdoors to produce sufficient cannabis to meet the needs of its people. Neither does Bulgaria have the economic clout to jostle with countries like France, Spain, Germany, Britain, etc., to source its cannabis from Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark and Israel. Most of these countries that export cannabis, barring Israel, are themselves struggling to produce enough cannabis to meet their internal needs, let alone for export, given their climatic conditions' unsuitability for large-scale cultivation of cannabis. The best thing for Bulgaria to do would be to legally source cannabis, instead of heroin and methamphetamine, from Afghanistan which grows some of the finest cannabis in the world. In this process of legally importing cannabis, Bulgaria will not only provide its people a healthy safe and affordable medicine and intoxicant, it will also provide Afghanistan the much-needed revenue to rebuild a nation that has been reduced to shambles by the western greed for heroin and methamphetamine. To supplement the legal cannabis imports from Afghanistan, Bulgaria should also legalize cannabis completely so that home growing and whatever cultivation is possible can supplement the cannabis imports from Afghanistan. This whole action will not only clean up and heal Bulgaria, it will also clean up and heal the pathways through which heroin and methamphetamine are delivered from the source nations to the rest of Europe.
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'Most of the clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia has traditionally been in the Islamic Republic of Iran, being manufactured both for the local market and for export to countries in East and South-East Asia (including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) as well as for export to Central Asia and the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan) and to Europe (including Bulgaria, France, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United Kingdom). However, the Islamic Republic of Iran is not the main source of the methamphetamine found in other countries in the Near and Middle East/SouthWest Asia (with the exception of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic). The main source countries for other countries in this subregion seem to continue to be countries in East and South-East Asia. The extent of clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Islamic Republic of Iran actually appears to be declining, while manufacturing is rapidly increasing in neighbouring Afghanistan.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf
'Of the total number of amphetamine laboratories reported dismantled worldwide in the period 2014–2018 (749 laboratories), more than half were dismantled in Europe (417), most notably in Western and Central Europe (316) and, to a lesser degree, in Eastern Europe (100). Overall, 16 European countries reported the dismantling of clandestine amphetamine laboratories over the period 2014– 2018, in particular the Netherlands. The Netherlands, followed by Poland, Lithuania and Belgium, were the most frequently identified source countries of amphetamine in Europe. Amphetamine from South-Eastern Europe was reported as being mainly sourced from Bulgaria and Turkey. However, it is likely that such statistics are heavily skewed as a number of countries, in particular in the Middle East, where large-scale amphetamine manufacture has been reported, have a very limited capacity to dismantle laboratories and thus are not appropriately represented in these statistics' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf
'Instability and conflict in the Middle East contributed to the trafficking in falsified “captagon” in the subregion. A lack of control and monitoring led to an increase in the manufacture of “captagon” tablets in some countries over the period 2014–2018, which turned into an additional source of income for terrorist and insurgency groups in the Middle East. Captagon was originally the trademarked brand name of a medicinal product containing fenetylline, until the substance was placed under international control in 1986. While the diversion of fenetylline from existing stocks might have continued until the end of the 1990s, those stocks, some of which were apparently located in Bulgaria, became depleted. However, the “captagon” name and logo continued to be used even though the composition of the counterfeit tablets had changed, and increasingly, seized “captagon” tablets were found to contain amphetamine, often mixed with caffeine and other substances.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf
'The world’s single largest heroin trafficking route continues to be the so-called “Balkan route”, along which opiates from Afghanistan are shipped to Iran (Islamic Republic of), Turkey, the Balkan countries and to various destinations in Western and Central Europe. Not counting seizures made in Afghanistan itself, countries along the Balkan route accounted for 58 per cent of the global quantities of heroin and morphine seized in 2018. A further 8 per cent of those global seizures were reported by countries in Western and Central Europe, whose markets are supplied to a great degree by heroin and morphine that is trafficked along the Balkan route' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf
'The Islamic Republic of Iran reported that 75 per cent of the morphine and 75 per cent of the heroin seized on its territory in 2018 had been trafficked via Pakistan, while the remainder had been smuggled directly into the country from Afghanistan. Typically, heroin is then smuggled to Turkey (70 per cent of all the heroin seized in the Islamic Republic of Iran in both 2016 and 2017) and from there along the Balkan route to Western and Central Europe, either via the western branch of the route via Bulgaria to various western Balkan countries or, to a lesser extent, via the eastern branch of the route via Bulgaria and then to Romania and Hungary, before reaching the main consumer markets in Western and Central Europe' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf
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