An increasing amount of heroin produced in the Golden Triangle -- the world's largest opium-producing area -- has been found circulating in Thailand.
Seizures of heroin from the Golden Triangle, one of the world's largest production areas along the Myanmar-Laos-Thai border, have been rising every year, according to Narcotics Control Board secretary-general Niyom Termsrisuk on Friday.
Mr Niyom said drug producers use China, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand as a base to transport shipments to other countries but sometimes drugs are sold along the way.
He added that it has been reported that opium production had declined last year but that 50 tonnes of heroin was shipped from the area to other countries and remote areas.
"Despite some of it being sold in passage countries like Thailand, heroin has not spread as much compared to ya ba, crystal meth and cannabis. However, it is still a cause for concern as heroin is a hard drug and it can damage the health of users even if they use it just a few times," he said. He said the number of people using or in possession of drugs has remained stagnant every year but the amount of heroin seized increased last year to 1.2 tonnes, up from 940kg the previous year.
However, the number of people in drug rehabilitation has declined annually, according to statistics. New users of drugs stood at 58%, 36% and 34% of total users between 2017-2019.