"The abuse of methamphetamine in Southeast Asia has become a major problem over the past decade. Thailand has been particularly hard hit: methamphetamine now impacts all sectors of Thai society. In the early 1990s, methamphetamine manufactures moved their laboratories across the border to Burma, and large-scale production began. The new cheaper product, yaa baa, or 'madness medicine', flooded the local market and spread quickly to the surrounding countries. Yaa baa from laboratories in Burma has been found also in the United States and Europe."--BOOK JACKET.