
Sensemaker Audio
Captagon: Syria’s drug trade
The illegal narcotics business shaping diplomacy in the Middle East
Sensemaker Audio
The illegal narcotics business shaping diplomacy in the Middle East
Sensemaker Audio
Thanks in part to the work of campaigners such as Jason Evans, an independent public inquiry has exposed one of the biggest scandals in the history of the NHS.
Sensemaker Audio
The largest food and drink producers in the UK are dependent upon selling ultra-processed food. What’s the cost and why does it matter?
The News Meeting
James Harding is joined by Liz Moseley, Phoebe Davis and Keith Blackmore to discuss the stories they think mattered most this week.
Sensemaker Audio
The Metropolitan Police says it regrets arresting six anti-monarchy protesters on the morning of the Coronation. It raises questions about new laws designed to stop disruptive protests
Sensemaker Audio
Nearly 70 years after his mother’s coronation, King Charles will be officially crowned this weekend. What could the future look like for the monarchy?
It was a shock to most when actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham football club in 2020 but now the club is on the brink of a fairytale ending.
Sensemaker Audio
England’s NHS has approved semaglutide, Hollywood’s favourite weight-loss injection. But is the hype justified?
Sensemaker Audio
Paris has become the first city in the world to ban rental e-scooters. Could the UK be next?
Sensemaker Audio
The illegal narcotics business shaping diplomacy in the Middle East
Sensemaker Audio
Thanks in part to the work of campaigners such as Jason Evans, an independent public inquiry has exposed one of the biggest scandals in the history of the NHS.
Sensemaker Audio
The largest food and drink producers in the UK are dependent upon selling ultra-processed food. What’s the cost and why does it matter?
The News Meeting
James Harding is joined by Liz Moseley, Phoebe Davis and Keith Blackmore to discuss the stories they think mattered most this week.
Sensemaker Audio
The Metropolitan Police says it regrets arresting six anti-monarchy protesters on the morning of the Coronation. It raises questions about new laws designed to stop disruptive protests
Sensemaker Audio
Nearly 70 years after his mother’s coronation, King Charles will be officially crowned this weekend. What could the future look like for the monarchy?
It was a shock to most when actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham football club in 2020 but now the club is on the brink of a fairytale ending.
Sensemaker Audio
England’s NHS has approved semaglutide, Hollywood’s favourite weight-loss injection. But is the hype justified?
Sensemaker Audio
Paris has become the first city in the world to ban rental e-scooters. Could the UK be next?
thinkin
Last week, Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, attended the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 12 years. He kissed the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman gently on the cheeks, grinned with Egypt’s president and stood for a photo with the leaders of 400 million people. Slowly but surely, the butcher of Syria is being rehabilitated in the Middle East. Why? There are many reasons why countries in the Middle East might want to normalise relations with Damascus. Many Arab leaders want to send some of the 5.5 million Syrian refugees in the region home. Another of the key reasons is to try to contain the booming drug trade flowing out of Syria, which is fuelling addiction and violence from Bahrain to Beirut. Captagon is sometimes referred to as “the poor man’s cocaine”. It is a form of amphetamine which can be easily manufactured with legally imported chemicals. Since Islamic State fighters started using it to stay awake, the little pills have taken the region by storm. And Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is behind it. The Assad family, who face heavy international sanctions from the US and European Union, turned to the drug to keep their regime afloat. They have turned Syria into what some regard as a narco-state, exporting millions of industrially-manufactured amphetamine pills across the region. In Saudi Arabia, users pay as much as $25 for a pill. Migrant workers use them to stay awake for longer, for wealthier people captagon is a party drug. Some experts estimate that the global trade is worth as much as about fifty-seven billion US dollars. It’s hard to know just how much money the Syrian regime makes from it, but captagon has become the country’s main export. Around 400 million tablets were seized by the authorities in the Middle East in 2021. In March this year, the US and the UK imposed sanctions on two of the Syrian leader’s cousins over the trafficking of the drug. The US treasury claims that one of them owns a factory in the Syrian port city of Latakia that produced 84 million captagon pills in 2020. There are serious health impacts from captagon use. Long-term use can lead to extreme depression, psychosis, hallucinations and aggression. As the region tries to get to grips with the trade, President Assad appears likely to be a more regular fixture on the international stage. The United Arab Emirates has invited him to the Dubai Cop28 to discuss climate change in November. It’s a move which has been condemned by human rights groups who regard President Assad as a war criminal.
thinkin
Last week, Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, attended the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 12 years. He kissed the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman gently on the cheeks, grinned with Egypt’s president and stood for a photo with the leaders of 400 million people. Slowly but surely, the butcher of Syria is being rehabilitated in the Middle East. Why? There are many reasons why countries in the Middle East might want to normalise relations with Damascus. Many Arab leaders want to send some of the 5.5 million Syrian refugees in the region home. Another of the key reasons is to try to contain the booming drug trade flowing out of Syria, which is fuelling addiction and violence from Bahrain to Beirut. Captagon is sometimes referred to as “the poor man’s cocaine”. It is a form of amphetamine which can be easily manufactured with legally imported chemicals. Since Islamic State fighters started using it to stay awake, the little pills have taken the region by storm. And Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is behind it. The Assad family, who face heavy international sanctions from the US and European Union, turned to the drug to keep their regime afloat. They have turned Syria into what some regard as a narco-state, exporting millions of industrially-manufactured amphetamine pills across the region. In Saudi Arabia, users pay as much as $25 for a pill. Migrant workers use them to stay awake for longer, for wealthier people captagon is a party drug. Some experts estimate that the global trade is worth as much as about fifty-seven billion US dollars. It’s hard to know just how much money the Syrian regime makes from it, but captagon has become the country’s main export. Around 400 million tablets were seized by the authorities in the Middle East in 2021. In March this year, the US and the UK imposed sanctions on two of the Syrian leader’s cousins over the trafficking of the drug. The US treasury claims that one of them owns a factory in the Syrian port city of Latakia that produced 84 million captagon pills in 2020. There are serious health impacts from captagon use. Long-term use can lead to extreme depression, psychosis, hallucinations and aggression. As the region tries to get to grips with the trade, President Assad appears likely to be a more regular fixture on the international stage. The United Arab Emirates has invited him to the Dubai Cop28 to discuss climate change in November. It’s a move which has been condemned by human rights groups who regard President Assad as a war criminal.
Hannah Jane Parkinson looks ahead to consider how we will be living several months from now
Matthew d’Ancona reflects on how far we have come since Boris Johnson addressed the nation and told us: “You must stay at home.”
Photo Essay
Photo Essay
Photo Essay