Produced mainly in Guangdong, the drugs can reach Europe and be delivered to a buyer in two days. Government controls rendered useless by the huge number of small companies and cunning producers who evade bans often changing production.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews / Agencies) – The "new psychoactive substances around the world" have China as a production and marketing hub. The Chinese pharmaceutical industry, in full development, has an increasingly large role in the international drug trade, according to the EU Drug Markets Report 2016 , which maps the illicit drug market in the EU, with the work of Europol and the European Centre for Drug Control and Dependencies.
The importance of China as a international production and marketing hub is also confirmed by a UN study. It speaks of China and Hong Kong as the most important centers for the trafficking of drugs, with Guangdong as the main production base and the collaboration of pharmaceutical companies. The substances are shipped from China to Europe using express mail and companies that can deliver packages weighing one kilo to the buyer's door in two days or less.
According to the researchers, market development has taken place thanks to modern transport networks, the internet, the low cost of labor and corruption of the pharmaceutical companies. Various drugs are in fact produced legally by registered companies, but production is then diverted to illegal uses.
The Chinese government tries to regulate pharmaceutical companies, but without great results. This is due in part to the fact that there are many companies, big and small, dedicated to the production of drugs, making it difficult to control. Plus, with great cunning, when a substance - usually containing the basic element to produce amphetamine and meta-amphetamines - is prohibited, the companies quickly change production methods to similar substances, evading the ban.