My Thailand Diary

The other week when my husband and others went up in a village, they were faced with a horrible situation. A man, high on yaba had stabbed his wife and watched her bleed to death. Other people in the village were not able to rescue the woman because the ‘crazy man’ would have hurt them to… later the man was taken to prison and the 2 children have been taken to relatives.
Yaa Baa in Thai means crazy drug. Thats what it does, it really makes people crazy. This made me wonder what yaa baa is, why do people take it. Why is it so popular in Thailand? heres what I found out…
Yaba is a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine. Usually sold as tables reddish-orange of green. Yaba is commonly taken as a pill but it can also be inhaled. ‘Chasing the dragon’. The tablet gets melted heated and the vapor inhaled. I’m not sure how much a pill costs but I’m sure its not much here in Thailand….
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant drug, also used to treat ADD- attention-deficit hyperactivity. Its very addictive.
A positive side effect are euphoria, increased energy and attentiveness
Less positive effects are loss of appetite, insomnia, tremor, agitation, panic attacks , increased libido
Chronic use leads to drug craving, weight loss, rapid tooth decay also known as meth mouth, amphetamine psychosis mainly due to lack of sleep. etc etc.
Overdose can lead to brain damage, sensation of flesh crawling with bugs, paranoia etc.

Yaba is a big big problem here in Thailand.. what shall I say. I’m just very touched by the social decay drug abuse causes. The children suffer, people die. What can I do about it? What can we do about it? I can’t know about situations like this and not care.