Did Syrian politicians mass-produce Captagon to survive during the country's economic crisis and war? 

The EduMatrix YouTube channel is adding the Syrian Pound to the list of exotic currencies to watch.  This means we are researching Syria, the economy, and the currency.  

This story is from the research file on Syria.

During Syria's re-entry into the Arab League, discussions over the Drug often smuggled to Gulf states, have been a key topic.

Regional diplomatic discussions have focused on Captagon, as some Arab countries seek to normalize relations with Syria.

As nations sought to curb illicit drug trade, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used the addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant mass-produced in Syria and smuggled to Gulf states as a bargaining chip to reinstate Syria's Arab League membership.

According to Jordan's foreign ministry, Damascus agreed to cooperate with Jordan and Iraq to identify drug production and smuggling sources at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers on May 1.

A week later, an air raid attributed to Jordan killed a high-profile Syrian drug smuggler and his family.

What you need to know about the drug and why it has become so popular:

Among its uses were for attention deficit disorder, narcolepsy, and as a central nervous system stimulant. Captagon was produced in the 1960s by the German company Degussa Pharma Gruppe.

Captagon tablets contained fenetylline, a synthetic drug belonging to the phenethylamine family, which also includes amphetamine.

Since 1986, fenetylline has been included in Schedule II of the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971, and most countries have discontinued the use of Captagon. The International Narcotics Control Board reported that no country has produced fenetylline since 2009.

Some of the remaining stocks were smuggled out of Eastern Europe, especially Bulgaria, to the Middle East when official production ceased.

Eventually, new counterfeit tablets branded Captagon were produced in Bulgaria between the 1990s and early 2000s, according to a 2018 report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Balkan and Turkish criminal networks then smuggled the drugs out to the Arabian Peninsula.

The closure of 18 laboratories involved in amphetamine synthesis by Turkish and Bulgarian authorities resulted in a drastic reduction in trade from the Balkans.

Syria fell into an economic crisis in 2011 after a brutal government crackdown on anti-Assad protesters.

As Damascus seeks an economic lifeline, observers say smuggling and production of the drug have brought billions of dollars to al-Assad and his allies.

Syrian government officials use "local alliance structures with other armed groups, such as Hezbollah, for the production and trafficking of Captagons", according to a New Lines Institute report.

Most of the world's Captagon production is now produced in Syria, primarily for the wealthy Gulf states.

There has been an increase in efforts to stem the flow of Captagon from Syria since last year in countries that had large amounts of Captagon pass through their borders.

According to Jordan's army, 30 smugglers have been killed since the start of 2022, and attempts have been foiled to smuggle 16 million Captagon pills into the kingdom from Syria - exceeding the total amount seized in 2021.

Saudi authorities discovered 46 million amphetamine pills hidden in a flour shipment that was smuggled in late August 2022.

This was the largest operation of its kind to smuggle this amount of narcotics into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a single operation, according to the Suadi General Directorate of Narcotics Control.

In February 2023, a man attempted to smuggle 4.5 million Captagon tablets in green bean cans at Abu Dhabi airport in the United Arab Emirates.

Although the drug is relatively unknown outside of the Middle East, countries like the United Kingdom and the United States have expressed concerns about its production there.

This year, both countries imposed new sanctions on Syrians involved in the trade. According to a UK government statement, approximately 80 percent of Captagon is produced in Syria, making al-Assad's regime a "financial lifeline" worth three times the combined trade of the Mexican cartels.

In addition, the report stated that Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed militias facilitate the industry "and in doing so fuel regional instability and create a growing addiction crisis in the region".

In December 2022, the US also introduced The Captagon Act, which mandates that US agencies target the illicit drug trade amid concerns that the drug might reach US shores.