lots of unrestrained drug taking in phnom penh, with regular deaths of backpacker heroin users by the phnom penh lakeside due to irregular qualities (white) coming in from Laos and burma and a serious escalation of yabaa (methamphetamine) use, small red pill usually chased off a foil and sending regular users a bit erratic and neurotic and needy for another pill which are dirt cheap and universally available in schools street corners off policemen etc etc etc, and the peer pressure to use yaba is phenomenal and the locals are facing a serious crisis as the yaba use has become standard at all levels of society and yaba use is becoming more popular with tourists when in the past most visitors would prob rather sniff petrol than chace a pill, and K easily obtained from pharmacists widely used in the backpacker set comes in a liquid thats gotta be cooked and some users don't know what theyre up for and end up too wated then get robbed or mugged or otherwise mistreated you gotta be careful here the hungry are really hungry and poor e - usually poor - available especially for the chinese club scene pumping chinese hard house techno hard on the ears police generally leave foreigners alone but will shake down for some money extremely poor lots of foreigners lost in phnom penh and gone troppo, lost all ability to return or rehabilitate to the west, but mainly its the heroin and yaba users ending up so far up river they forget themselves forget export a big no-no any traffic out of here crosses thailand or sing or malaysia or vietnam and extreme penalties in very nasty jails even for small amounts it would be insane to take a chance (imagine rotting in a humid crowded diert jail for the next 15-years to bring back a bit of something for your friends - no matter how much fun you have don't lose your senses - local jails absolutely horrible) also the number of foreigners dying while using heroin has raised a few heads it might be as much as one a week but the stats are not clear as the causes of death are rarely related to drug use for all sorts of reasons including not passing bad news home (spare Johnny's mum the grief) and bc bad press is lost income for a ruined nation on it's knees and just recovering.
as anywhere be careful and make an effort to stay healthy and safe
hope this info helps if there is anything yod like to know i'll keep an eye on the thread