Foreign Drug Scenes

[rachamim]

Control: Anytime. Mindanao is truly a wild place.

I could have sworn that I had taken time to do a bit on Cambodia here but alas, it is not here. Maybe I am losing my mind. If I canot locate it elsewhere I will repost (maybe).

 

[jspun]

Excellent post Rach!!!

Considering the prevailing attitude about drugs among Filipino immigrants here it is amazing to me that there is any substatial drug scene in the Phillipines.

Loved your sort of travelogue about Cambodia in opiophile from about the beginning of '08. Do you have any links to other similar posts/threads you can please list?

Wondering about drug scene in Israel. Seems that it has a healthy drug scene
and that the government is on the tolerant side, relatively speaking. Figure you would probably be the person to ask.

 

[null_null]

"Wondering about drug scene in Israel."

me too.

 

[EastOfEden]

I see there's been a few posts about New Zealand already but thought i'd ad my 2cents:

Marijuana is pretty much the undisputed kind of drugs in NZ. It is grown big scale and is generally good quality. I'm no "stoner" but pretty much every person I know has at least tried it. It's socially acceptable and people who don't do it generally don't look down upon it. My cousin goes to one of the most elitist schools in the country and his parents let him grow in the basement. According to a 1998 survey 43 percent of males and 27 percent of females aged 18 to 24 years had used marijuana in the preceding 12 months. I'd guess that these figures are likely to have gone up. I would have no problem getting some weed within 10-15 minutes even though I have no real "contacts". You generally get the occasional gang member selling on the street in the inner city and the "tinny house" used to be seen as the scourge on NZ culture before the big meth epidemic. Weed is seen as more of a teenager drug.

Psychedalics and Dissociatives are not really popular. New Zealand has a very wet and cold winter climate so you get lots of mushrooms (has been kind of crap this season). LSD isn't that difficult to get but seems very expensive $30-50NZ ($25US?) a tab, wonder if someone could tell me what the price is in US. Hardly any people know about DXM/ which seems to be popular in US highschools from what I read on the net. Ketamine is really gaining in popularity as a party drug but is fucking expensive($125 a gram). PCP just flatout does not get talked about and I'd suprised if there was any in the whole country.

Opiates & Cocaine are extremely uncommon in New Zealand being such an isolated country. I've never met a junkie and never been offered or heard of anyone doing coke or crack. Oxys, hydros and all that shit are non existant and i'm assuming they go by different names here. The only heroin you can get is homebake which is fucking disgusting shit that people cook up in their bathrooms from nurofens and stuff like that. It's bright orange and like 40% pure if you're lucky. I've actually bought some before but gave it away it looked so bad.

Ecstasy is pretty massive in NZ and you can get high quality at a reasonable price if you have good contacts, i'm sure it's just like anywhere. BZP was recently made illegal so i'm sure there's alot of that shit going around being sold as E.

METHAMPHETAMINE has really exploded in popularity over the last decade in NZ. Because you can make it out of pharmacy medicines it counteracts the effects of New Zealand being so isolated. Pseudoephidrine gets smuggled in from China in large quantity. "Speed" or sniffing meth doesn't really have a stigma attached and is widely accepted as ok for clubbing/raving. Crystal meth or "P"(pure) as it's known is pretty much getting demonized. NZ is witnessing a surge in violent crime that corresponds to the rise of popularity in meth. There was a famous case where a guy called Antony Dixon cut off his girlfriends hands and attacked a few other people with a samurai sword "because P made him do it". It is prevalent through all areas of society and just in the news today was an article about how private drug dog companies are being hired to sniff around white collared work places to find secret meth heads. I went to a really good school and all the rich kids are mad into meth and have enough to pay for massive habits.

Anyway in summary Weed is ridiculously widespread, cheap and good quality. E, acid and shrooms are for people who are a little more "out there". No coke or heroin but a massive meth epidemic. Remember this is just all from one persons perspective so it may not represent the reality of the situation.

 

[rachamim]

EastofEden: Obviously you know alot more about your own country than I would. I know alot of technical info, but in real-life terms I only have some of my wife's relatives to rely on and none of them are users.

"Homebake.": It can be orange but by and large it is black, just like Mexican Tar. Back when Dicodin (great substance) was still on the market you could even find pink tar homebake.

The colour comes from the fundamental precursor.

To the thread: Homebake is a NZ phenomenon and for a tiny portion of the 80s had also spread to isolated areas in Australia.

They take Rx opiates/opioids and prepare their own heroin very crudely. What is so interesting about the substance is that it is, except for the precursor, exactly how Mexican Tar Heroin is manufactured. It seems quite possible that 2 people in 2 hemispheres independantly came up with totally novel routes of manufacture.

The key to both Tar and Homebaked's gummy appearance is in the acetylation process. The lack of reflux during acetylation combined with the less than optimum acetylating agent* and timing^ create that gum.

*Acetylation can be performed with any GAA (Glacial Acetic Acid) IF the timing and heat is modified just so. With Homebaked, they occaisonally score AA (acetic anhydride) which is the optimal agent, but usually it is something like acetyl chloride.

Timing is crucial as well because optimally you only want to work 2 groups and get it just right. There are 2 metabolites of heroin (MAM-3 and MAM-6) which also present themselves post-acetylation. 1 is the result of acetylation per se whereas the 2nd is simply degraded heroin from a less than optimal acetylation OR simply heroin undergoing hydrolysis (decomposition resulting from contact with water).

With both Tar and Homebaked you find a very specific MAM composition related to that acetylysation sans reflux.

There is actual heroin in NZ, and last I checked (roughly 2 weeks ago) ir was at almost 300 US per gramme! I do not know why I put the exclamation in there because there was a time when it cost that much in Central Florida in the US, just that today that price seems so obscene.


Also worth noting...Homebaked can also be made from OTC codeine compounds in a long but very interesting chemical process.

I)CWE on codeine

II) O-Demethylation of the codeine, into morphine

III) Acetylation of morphine into heroin

The DOC there though, seems to be "Ice," the same substance they love in the Philippines. In NZ though, they call it "P." Go figure.

The poster asked about LSD prices in the US...LSD exists but it is very rare these days. Most people do not realise it but production was always very limited to a very small cirrcle. About 3 years ago, in Kansas, 2 men who were responsible for most of the LSD then in existence (for example, they got pegged with 40 odd KILOS if LSD. LSD is measured in microgrammes, do the math and you wil not be able to wrap your mind around what that arrest represented in actual dosages!) were arrested by luck (in their case extremely bad and dumb luck).

Since then there has been precious little. There are other very small producers chugging away but that arrest combined with the afore mentioned lack of knowledgeable producers, lack of fundamental precursor (ergotamine is now only made in a single country and is much, much,much more valuable than gold in terms of relative weight), and the rise in very inexpensive RCs that can mimic LSD in several ways have left people in the lurch.

If you can cheaply buy AMT, put it on blotter and then sell it for the price of LSD...

Luckily for you, NZ has some wonderful, and entirely natural mushrooms and DMT.

 

[rachamim]

JPT: Thanks for the kind words...Funny about Cambodia, my having spent time yesterday writing it up, but as you say I had done a few pieces on Opiophile, as well as here on BL Journals that were written while I was there and they would be so much more fleshed out. That said, things change and I left there in the middle of March 2008 so things should be added. I will do one here a bit later (again).

For those asking about Israel, I will do that as well as a few others.

In every country that I spend any real time in (more than a couple of days) I immerse myself in that side of life. For one I have a great interest in geopolitics and the Grey and Black Economies of which drugs figure so prominently, but also because I am of course...a junkie (hahaha).

Filipinos and attitudes towards drugs. Well, normally I could point out that in any immigrant demographic you are only going to see those with the most determination, best work ethic and so on.

Great example...I am in NYC presently, as I have probably said. As someone with a quarter century of using, and who lives a very stable existence, I rely on OST/MAT Programmes (Opioid Maintenance). In the Philippines it is primarily morphine, here in the US I rely on methadone due to the anal retentiveness of US Drug Laws.

So, I get my methadone at a clinic in NYC and a very large one at that (through Albert Einstein/Yeshiva University). If you were to survey an arbitrary number, say 500 "clients," I will bet you 500 US Dollars (seriously) that no more than 3 have been somewhere other than the US and the country of their ethnicity (based upon MOST NYC "clients" being "Hispanic"). The point, in more common terms, is that junkies by and large do not roam the world.

It is a no-brainer really. Money and time are vital to support their addictions, they are not going to take photos at Machu Piccu.

Ergo, when you live in the US, or any Western Nation, and you come across Filipino immigrants you are only really going to see one type of Filipino. It would be like some Swiss backpacker spending a month traipsing about Utah and then imagining all Americans are Mormons.

In the Philippines, they are absolutely insane for stimulants. They have this horror of opiates/opioids, and as I said do not even readily give them to cancer patients though progress is being made.

They usually say, the majority being firmly Catholic, that "suffering brings one closer t G-D." I remember talking about this with my mother in law in 2007 when I was running out of methadone and wondering how to deal with that juncture. I told her the saying makes me livid, livid enough to hurt someone.

Not to go off on a tangent (too late haha)...But, if G-D requires suffering I reject the entire Belief. Of course, as a Jew whose religion not only allows drug use (within certain parameters), but actually Commands it (again, within parameters) I am not forced to contemplate such rejection.


So, all that talking to simply say that Filipino immigrants should not be considered representative of anything other than "Filipino immigrants," and yes, Filipinos by and large do have some negative viewpoints about drugs.

Shabu ripped the country apart though, even in the most rural areas it has taken hold. We have a cousin in the PDEA (their DEA) and like so many in the PDEA he became badly addicted and went off the deep end (you see insane corruption there).

 

[rachamim]

Israel...

First, the general history...Jews have a traditional usage of cannabis and opium in both medicine and in worship. This is known from oral history, written history and the archaeological record. However, the tumultuous political and social histories of both the land and the Jewish People led to what can be called a "Clean Slate" when Modern Israel was established in 1948.

From 1948 until 1973 Israel treated drug addiction as a purely medical issue. We had no drug laws, no drug rehabs, and no prisoners on drug offences.

From 73 to 83 it was looked at as a degenerate behavior, a totally criminal behavior and this radical shift in attitudes was due to a couple of factors, the traditional usage being relegated to the very traditional Jews, (i.e. "Those who did not have the benefit of a secual/modern education").

Another huge cause was the West's infatuation with Israel from 67 to 73 when we appeared as the "underdog" in amazing military victories.

Western Backpackers began flocking to Israel, especially to our "Kibbutzim," our collective farms and so it was this combination of "foreign decadence" and "uneducated backwardness" within our own culture that drug use then became vilified.

In 1982 we went to war in Lebanon, a time that is pivotal in my own life, for in 1983 as a 16 year old I entered a combat unit in the Eastern Sector (Beka'a).

Lebanon is a source country for heroin and hashish, and Beka'a is where it originates.

I, like so many other Israeli men of my generation became an opiate/opioid addict.

Israel at that time was tiny, 4 hours by car, north to south and 45 minutes east to west in some points. Less than 4 million people including non-Jews so that Israeli-Jews were a very cohesive group, everyone knew everyone.

In the first 15 months of that war we had the equivalent of 200,000 dead (in per capita figures, compared to the US). America was scarred by Viet Nam, where much less than 20,000 died in 10 years. Imagine 200,000 Americans in 15 months? This was my adolescence, and the adolescence of my country.

The country was badly scarred and drug use was out in the open.

From 84 until 94 they struggled with the issue. By law you could be given 25 years for a "roach" (tip of 1 cannabis cigarette), but then when "war heroes" were treated like criminals and our country woke up.

In 1994 the K'nesset
(our Senate/Parliament) began looking at legalisation and though drugs remain illegal today, users are no longer even incarcerated and drug addicts are considered to be "drug victims."

Today mainstream hospitals, like Hadassah, give cannabis oil even to infants, we have heroin by Rx for long term addicts such as myself and have followed the European Model, such as Spain with the "Free Zones." For those that are unfamiliar, in cities like Barcelona you can get methadone on demand at any hour of any day, in 3 districts. The police allow all illegal drugs to also be sold in those districts and do not arrest users, etc. Periodically they toughen up but it never lasts. Israel has not "toughened up" thank G-D.

OK...so, heroin...Drugs are known by the term "Sameem," and this term like "Dope" in NYC, applies specifically to heroin though, like "Dope," can generically mean "all drugs."

We have 2 forms of heroin, #2 and #4.

#2 is freebase of course, light tan to chocolate brown chunky powder almost always from Lebanon. Sold in quarter grammes (250 mgs.) for -- US. It can be 20% to 80% but is almost always 60% on the street. You can smoke it, insufflate (snort) it, or inject it with an acidic catalyst added (we used to use lemon juice but today you can get satchels of vitamin c from the govt.).

#4, is snow white heroin out off Turkey (the SW Asian export out of
Pakistan/Afghanistan, and alot of the time Golden Triangle/SE Asian as well). In half grammes on up, rarely found with street dealers. Half grammes for -- US, and usually 70% or better in purity, alot of the time the purity is at 90 plus percent, though it is usually going to cost 50 to 60 US when very pure).

Syringes are OTC in Israel, and cost 60 US cents for the cheap insulin variety.

Heroin is found all over the country but the best and cheapest is in Lod , Tel Aviv, Be'er Sheva (Beersheva) and Rahat. The last is a Bedua (Beduoin) city, and foreigners will not have any luck there at all, lucky if they do not beat you when robbing you.

In Tel Aviv, foreigners can easily find all things illegal in *please do not post location*, but there are many areas where it is sold.

In Lod, and in Tel Aviv neighbourhoods they usually sell from holes in walls, which we cal by the Russian slang words "Kaspomat," which means "ATM." Like the little slots in an ATM, put you money in, pick up you paper or plastic satchel filled with heroin and move on.

Cocaine is -- to --- US per gramme, uncut, but never on the street.

In Israel, we have very bad Organised Crime. I have spent time in Sicily and southern Italy and they have nothing on us. In our tiny country we have 29 "Families." When they fight it is by LAW (like RPGs) and car bombs. They control many things, and one of them is the nightclub/disco industry. Coke is sold in nightclubs and in those circles.

We do not have methamphetamine because, like many Middle-Eastern nations we have Rx amphetamines like Captagon. Captagon, which we call "Feet'ton" is often bootlegged from Syria, Lebanon, or further east in the UAE, etc.

Actual Captagon is fenethylline hcl, which is actually stronger and more euphoric than amphetamine or methamp. People inject it, but I have never heard of anyone smoking it.

We also have a huge methcathinone scene, another very powerful stimulant. We call it "Hagee'got" and it was legal until 3 weeks ago, so it is still being sold OTC. In Tel Aviv you have these little kiosks that sell head shoppe crap, like in Amsterdam. They are open non-stop and Hag is sold in white capsules. It was about -- US cents per capsule though now I am sure that the price would be at least ----- per.

You can inject the contents, just like Catagon. Methcathinone is an analouge from cathinone, the active ingredient in the Khat plant which is also found growing wild all over the country.

MDMA? If anyone here does not know the Israeli role with that substance... In T. Aviv you can get the best for -- US cents per tab. Powder varies but noone buys it unless from a connection because they can put anything in powder where as it takes time and effort to dummy up a tab.

Benzodiazepines, codeine, dihydrocodiene are all OTC, so enjoy though the
opiates/opioids I mentioned are in low dosage compounds, but CWE can take care of that just fine.

Cannabis....We used to be religious about hashish but younger people stupidly would rather have weed itself. We still have enough hash though.The best, is Lebanese, "Zerharat" brand (Zerharat al Kolkh), a blonde cream from Beka'a.

The usual way we buy is in a "Finger," what we call "Tollah." Finger is 10 grammes, one piece usually. A finger of Zerharat is -- US per.

You can get fingers of Lebanese brown and red creams for -- US per, or harder (less fresh or less expertly prepared) for -- to -- US per finger.

On the street, they also sell 3 gramme pieces, very cheaply, in the kiosks, etc but prices are not something I would know offhand.

The best though, is Charras, from India (mannali and pradesh). Most Hebrew speakers can not make the "ch" sound "as in the word "church") so they usually call it "karras" or else "charras" in the Hebrew fashion where the "ch" is guttural, like when you say the German word "macht" or "nicht").

Charras is sold for -- US per finger but NEVER on the street, takes time to find.

Weed...Hydro varieties are -- US per gramme, where as Sinai weed is -- US cents per gramme, red haired bud. We call weed by the Russian slang "Anashah."

Hash is called, of course, "Hasheesh."

Opium can be had in Rehat, and sometimes in Be'er Sheva, and we call it "Afeeyon." Prices vary but it is very cheap, cheaper than hash.

Khat as I said grows wild, as does Rue, a hallucinogenic plant that Bedua still use. In the West they call it "Syrian Rue."

The currency is the New Israeli Shekel, or "NIS," and roughly 4 NIS equal 1 US Dollar.

One thing worthy of mention is the way we smoke hash. We call it by the Arabic, "Charboosh." You take a tong, pick a tiny piece of red hot carcoal, lite the hash, and immediately put a glass jar over it. It captures all the smoke, the jar has an outlet on top with screw on lid, you remove the lid and voila....It is the traditional way we smoke, but I enjoy the nargileh, what some call the "Hookah" in turkey, etc.

We sit in our courtyards, or if we have modern homes, or apts, similar outside spaces, and slowly smoke.

(Edited for spelling)

 

[jspun]

As usual bitchin post Rach!!!

Anybody got info on the scene in the Lao PDR?

It is the traditional way we smoke, but I enjoy the nargileh

In Greece it was also called nargileh (or argileh) circa 1920s. Don't know if that term is still in use there.
Hear that term in Rebetiko music which is kind of like the greek version of the blues.

 

[Sweet P]

No coke or heroin but a massive meth epidemic. Remember this is just all from one persons perspective so it may not represent the reality of the situation.

Coke and heroin are definitely available, but they're both expensive and relatively hard to find. One of my friends is into cocaine, but I personally wouldn't touch the stuff in NZ. Unless you're well-connected and pay a fortune for it, you can guarantee that it's heavily cut. But I suppose it makes sense that the importers and dealers try to maximise their profits, considering how we're such an isolated country with very tight border controls.

 

[rachamim]

Jspun: Yes, I go to Laos often. The Golden Triangle is my "backyard." I plan to hit Yunnan and Burma again when I leave NYC, probably in a couple of weeks BUT with the ethnic riots in western China (Xiangjang/Uighur) I might not do it.

Yunnan in a border area filled with Hill Tribes and at times of strife (even elsewhere) they get very anal.

Laos is very near the part where I will be going (Luilli County) and so I can update any entry I might do before then. I will probably do it later.

Laos though is changing VERY fast. If you hope to experience it I would go much sooner than later.

Greek blues? I would like to hear it. Our music in Israel is almost the same in instrumentation and even in melody. If you have electic tastes you might like Cambodian Blues, I do not speak Khmer but such great music.

SweetP: If you can pay for the adulterated (cut) coke, you can purify it rather simply. Though, with all that methamp. Why pay the differential? I mean I do know that there is a huge difference in euphoria, but after that minute passes what is the difference? I never noticed any.

As I said, never been to NZ but it seems to be such a beautiful nation, just too isolated for my tastes

 

[jspun]

Background on Rebetiko music:

http://www.greecetravel.com/music/rembetika/

Songs with lyrics translated to english:
http://www.greecetravel.com/music/rembetika/lyrics/index.htm

"Otan Kapnizi O Loulas", "Ferte Preza Na Presaro" (preza means bump, pressaro means doing a bump), "Pente Mangas Ston Pirea," all good example of early rebetiko songs with drug lyrics.

Songs without drug references but good are "Frankosyriani", "Capitan Andrea Zeppo", Stou Othona ta Chronia", "Ta Paidia Tis Amynas."

I'm tired or I might have written more. Ta Rebetika (the rebetika) was the music of the refugees that emigrated from Turkey after World War I during the forced population exchange. Drug use was rampant among this subculture and the songs reflected this theme along with prison, crime, loneliness, prostitution, love songs, ect...The iconic Greek instrument the bouzouki is most often associated with this type of music. Hash smokers (hashiklithis) and dope fiends(prezakis), tekedes (hash house), are terms one hears.

Nice to get info about what the scene in the good ole Hellenic Republic is like currently if someone out there knows.

http://www.youtube.com/v/rAMNRp3DAsA

performers with a somewhat old school sound.

Too tired to elaborate more on this post.

 

[andybricks]

mmmm its all about who u know there are people out there (NZ) for example that produce drugs for a world market and never let locals see any of it. its export only. u would be amazed at what comes out of where its always being made where u least expect it..........

 

[jspun]

Some Rebetika Lyrics from above link with my modifications to translation (in boldface).
Whats interesting is that these songs were probably composed in the 20s.

FERTE PREZA NA PREZARO
by Stelakis. The title is slang. Preza means bump. Its understood to mean 'Give me some cocaine to snort'. I guess it could be heroin too (probably is heroin).

Planets, don’t ask me, why I’m always thinking.
I could die for her, and that’s why I suffer.
Give me some cocaine to snort,
And hashish to smoke.

She’s got me crazy with her high heel shoes.
I try to talk to her, but she doesn’t care,
She laughs and dances away.
Give me some cocaine to snort,
And hashish to smoke.

The ardent enthusiast hurts but doesn’t say it.
He sings but his heart aches.
Give me some cocaine to snort
And hashish to smoke.

She’s got me crazy with her high heel shoes.
I try to talk to her, but she doesn’t care,
She laughs and dances away.
Give me some cocaine to snort,
And hashish to smoke.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


OTAN KAPNIZI O LOULAS
by Mitsakis. It means 'When the hash pipe is being smoked'

When the hash pipe is being smoked,
You shouldn’t talk. (When we're smoking off the hash pipe shut the fuck up- better translation).
Look around and see the wise guys,
They’re all minding their own business.
Look around and see the wise guys,
They’re all minding their own business.

Listen to the baglama playing,
An find a joint for us.
And when we get stoned,
We have to be very careful.
And when we get stoned,
We have to be very careful.

In case someone sees us,
And they catch us,
So they won’t find a reason,
And take us all to prison.
So they won’t find a reason,
And take us all to prison.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PENTE MANGAS STON PIREA (5 heads from Pireaus)
by Yiannis Etziridi and sung by Agathonas Iakovidis

Five heads from Piraeus,
Passed by the hash house ,
And one of them said,
Let’s go smoke a hookah.
They went into the hash house,
And they called the owner.
“bring us hookah and pack a fat bowl”,
With hash from Persia.

You charge it for two 5 bills,
But I’ll give you three,
And if the hash is good,
We will prefer you.
They smoked the hookah and it was bad,
That’s why they called the owner.
They didn’t like it at all,
Because it was plain tobacco.

“Hey, did you think you were talking to a beginner?”
“We are not kids, and we are not junkies.”
“At the top of that hill,
I have a hidden hookah,
Let’s go, guys, to smoke,
Let’s leave this place.”

“Hey, did you think you were talking to a beginner?”
“We are not kids, and we are not junkies.”
And when they close up the hash houses,
Near Piraeus and Kremidarou,
I will carry my old rug to my cave.


mangas can also be translated as fool as in "whose got the bud?- I heard that fool over their got some."

All these flow better in the in the original Greek. Germans have beer drinking songs, Greeks have hash smoking and dope snorting songs from their grandparent's day. If you go to a greek wedding you'll probably hear songs with dopster themes without realizing it.

 

[psytaco]

Melbourne: Not so much in the way of street dealing, you won;t often be offered drugs on the street but you can find buy them on the street in some areas. Most people obviously have regular dealers or go through friends. In most clubs that have dance music you can buy pills and speed.
After marijuana, pills are by far the most common drug (Australia is the biggest consumer of MDMA per capita in the world!). It is in the mainstream clubbing culture, and alot of young people will openly admit to using it. Using drugs at nightclubs and events is very open and often tolerated by operators. Amphetamines are very popular, and they're use is semi-acceptable. Cocaine and heroin are less popular, and very expensive. Drugs in Australia are expensive compared to most countries.
Drug use is generally not excepted by mainstream society. Police will often not arrest you for being under the influence of drugs and people caught with drugs often will not receive a court sentence, if they do it will be a non-custodial one or you get sent to rehab/counselling.

Thailand: Drugs use is very underground amounst the Thais. Many smoke marijuana (though not openly). Yaba (meth tablets) is popular, and is often used by prostitutes, labourers, truck drivers etc. for work. It is a greatly demonised drug. It is rare for a foreigner to be offered drugs on the street outside of the islands. There you will often be offered marijuana or ecstasy (sometimes these are set ups by cops), or mushroom shakes. Thaksin clamped down on drugs in thailand (police were ordered to shot dealers) - so drugs aren't pushed as much as in many SEA countries.

Vietnam: With every motor cycle taxi ride I was offered weed and/or hookers. The pot offered to foreigners is very shit. Lots of good cheap opium. There seems to be alot of heroin use in Hanoi - lots of junkies.

Cambodia: This country is very lawless generally. You get offered all sorts of drugs regularly. Most common were pot, opium, ice and heroin. You get offered by kids on the street, motor cycle and tuk tuk drivers, bar staff and guest house operators. You can buy marijuana pizzas in most cities where tourists go. Everything is really cheap and quite quality. I think there is less police enforcement than other SEA countries.

Laos: There is a thriving drug tourism scene here. Vang Vieng focuses towards this particularly. Often the drugs are sold in food from guest houses or bars. often marjiuana shakes or pizzas, yaba shakes, mushroom shakes or opium tea. Its safer to buy these because there is less likelihood of been set up by the police. Tuk tuk drivers also often sell weed and opium.

Singapore: Drug use is very demonised and law enforcement is tenacious. I have quite a few friends from singapore and most would never dream of doing drugs in their home country. The few that do keep it very quiet. Undercovers are often in clubs. Never got offered anything when I was here. No chance of bribery if you get caught and you'll sit in jail for a long time. Local students returning from australia are sometimes tested for drugs, if they come back positive they can be arrested.

Disclaimer: All the countries, except for Australia, have very strict drug laws. If you are caught and can't get a bribe sorted, you can be sent to jail for many years or even given the death sentence for large amounts. I would be extremely careful in these countries. Personally don;t risk it

 

[mycellardoor]

two things.

in london, are there really no ocs around, just heroin? it's what i've heard but from people that don't know shit about shit so...

also. i'll be traveling to amsterdam in a couple of weekends. prob not safe for a young, small american girl to try to buy drugs off the creeps that offer on the street, am i right?

 

[burni]

^yeah you're right don't buy from the streets and especially don't ever ever go with anybody in those dark small streets in order to buy something...head to a coffee shop and smoke weed there thats fine go to a smartshop for shrooms (only philosopher's stones all the other are illegal now) if you want to buy other drugs i think (att: assumption^^) it would be a better idea to ask locals in a club but always keep in mind : if they want you to come with them don't do it!
may sound paranoid but please be careful

 

[placid space]

Disclaimer: All the countries, except for Australia, have very strict drug laws. If you are caught and can't get a bribe sorted, you can be sent to jail for many years or even given the death sentence for large amounts. I would be extremely careful in these countries. Personally don;t risk it

Even if you are caught like with a tiny amount, a quantity that would equal just a couple of lines, obviously meant for personal use?

 

[psytaco]

Even if you are caught like with a tiny amount, a quantity that would equal just a couple of lines, obviously meant for personal use?

I don't know the exact amounts necessary for a trafficing charge, would be specific for each country. However, possession of something like a powder, even only enough for a few lines would probably get you jail time for at least a few years in Thailand or Singapore. Even possession of small amounts of marijuana carries jail time, and the jails in SE Asia are some of the worst in the world.
I know that if you are caught with one pill in Koh Phagnan, Thailand the going rate for a bribe (if your offered one) would be 50,000 baht (around $1700 US). If you can't pay, theres a good chance your off to jail for a while.
The drug laws are very punitive in these countries.

 

[mycellardoor]

^yeah you're right don't buy from the streets and especially don't ever ever go with anybody in those dark small streets in order to buy something...head to a coffee shop and smoke weed there thats fine go to a smartshop for shrooms (only philosopher's stones all the other are illegal now) if you want to buy other drugs i think (att: assumption^^) it would be a better idea to ask locals in a club but always keep in mind : if they want you to come with them don't do it!
may sound paranoid but please be careful

thanks, i appreciate it!
i'm going to amsterdam with a group of like 6 guys from my school so i know that if i ever drunkenly thought it was a good idea to go home with some skeez from a club they'd stop me

 

[tyrael]

Police will often not arrest you for being under the influence of drugs and people caught with drugs often will not receive a court sentence, if they do it will be a non-custodial one or you get sent to rehab/counselling.....

Agree with psytaco's post (good one!). I've know people who were caught with a 10pk and only having to go to a few counseling sessions. I think the police look at it in terms of, if you're not hurting anyone/you're minding your own business (just jumping around like a twat) then they leave you alone (exception being if you're caught dealing of course).

....
Disclaimer: All the countries, except for Australia, have very strict drug laws.

That's a big WOOT for Aus!