The Pills Spill in Syria

Syria's new rebel-led government has uncovered what experts say is proof of the former Assad regime's role in manufacturing and trafficking an addictive methamphetamine-like drug to fuel a crisis across the Middle East. For more than a decade, fenethylline, a synthetic stimulant known by the brand name Captagon, has been produced in Syrian labs, generating an estimated $10 billion annually for the country and $2.4 billion annually for a regime up against international sanctions, reports ABC News. Originally produced in Germany in the 1960s to treat conditions including narcolepsy and ADHD, fenethylline was later banned in many countries due to its addictive nature. Production ramped up in Syria amidst civil war.

As the country grew to become the world's largest producer, neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, grew eager to stem the flow of fenethylline into their territory. Often described as a gateway drug, fenethylline staves off hunger and "makes you feel invincible," Caroline Rose of the New Lines Institute, an expert on the fenethylline trade, tells ABC. It's used by "taxi drivers, university students, poor people in bread lines, wealthy people who want to lose weight," even militants. Basher al-Assad sought to use his power over the trade in pressuring countries to pay his regime to prevent fenethylline shipments, says Rose. But she says the move backfired, lessening support from neighbors and ultimately contributing to Assad's downfall.

Rose adds that the uncovering of alleged fenethylline factories and storage facilities at an air base in Damascus, a car-trading company in the Assad family's hometown of Latakia, and a Douma factory linked to Assad's brother, Maher al-Assad, "absolutely proves that the regime was systematically involved in Captagon production and trafficking," per the Wall Street Journal. Rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which found pills concealed in electrical equipment and plastic fruits, paints the drug trade as an example of the Assad regime's corruption, saying Syria is now "being cleansed." Experts say Iran and Hezbollah, which also profited off the drug trade, will suffer as a result. Meanwhile, fenethylline users are likely to see costs rise, raising the risk that they'll turn to more dangerous stimulants, like crystal meth, per the Journal. (More Syria stories.)