Addictive Amphetamine Pills Fueling Syrian Civil War Confiscated in Turkey

Besides religion, political propaganda, and divisions in ideologies, another key factor that fuels the war in Syria is the little addictive amphetamine pill called Captagon. Authorities in Turkey recently conducted massive raids along the country's Syrian border, seizing 11 million pills. 

Captagon is an amphetamine drug that stimulates the users greatly increasing their energy, allowing them to stay awake for longer periods of time. This drug has become very popular in the Middle East because it is widely used to fight the war, according to the Business Insider. The drug is not only used by member of the Islamic State (ISIS), but also by soldiers from all sides. The drug helps keep them awake and eat less.

In a report by The Washington Post, Captagon's illegal sale across the Middle East has become a very lucrative business that brings hundreds of millions of dollars to the black market economy every year, allowing militants to purchase more arms. This keeps the war waging.

"Syria is a tremendous problem in that it's a collapsed security sector, because of its porous borders, because of the presence of so many criminal elements and organized networks," said the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) regional representative, Masood Karimipour. "There's a great deal of trafficking being done of all sorts of illicit goods - guns, drugs, money, people. But what is being manufactured there and who is doing the manufacturing, that's not something we have visibility into from a distance."

Daily Mail reported that the drug gives the users a kind of euphoria. It makes the user talkative, it keeps the user awake, the user will lose his or her appetite, but it will keep the user energetic. It is cheap and simple to produce. A basic knowledge in chemistry can get the producer far. According to the Syrian state media, the drug sells for only $5 to $20.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime states that Syria has been a transit point for this drug for a long time. The drug comes from Europe, Lebanon, and Turkey and is headed to rich Gulf nations.