"At least 40 to 50%" of North Koreans addicted to meth

[Kitteh]

Extremely interesting report. It's been common knowledge for a while that the DPRK government produced and sold meth to make money since the mid-2000s (when most of the opium fields in the country dried up). Apparently people who learned to produce meth in state-run factories started up underground and at-home production, which became endemic and has led to massive addiction problems. Obviously the government won't release statistics, but it's become enough of a public health problem they've been trying to crack down on it in recent years (unsuccessfully).

Really fascinating. While the report doesn't note this, it struck me that some of the symptoms of long-term meth use are anxiety, irritability, anger issues and paranoia. Seems like that could be very relevant, hmm?

[Kitteh]

Not sure if Onion or another day in DPRK

Seems entirely legit, as far as we can tell anything about North Korea.

[Kitteh]

I read this book “Methland», about the use of the drug in the deindustrialized Midwest. A lot of the people who used it did it to be able to work long shifts (they had to work a lot, because the hourly wages were so low). That may be the case for North Korea as well. If you have to toil long hours in the field without proper nourishment then meth will of course look like a good deal. 

The article has the story of a guy who took it so he could evade border guards and escape across the Chinese border.

[Kitteh]

I read this book “Methland», about the use of the drug in the deindustrialized Midwest. A lot of the people who used it did it to be able to work long shifts (they had to work a lot, because the hourly wages were so low). That may be the case for North Korea as well. If you have to toil long hours in the field without proper nourishment then meth will of course look like a good deal.  

Damn, whatever happened to Red Bull?

Meth's probably cheaper.

Seriously? How much does meth cost?

A quick check on silk road seems to indicate about $80-105 usd/gram. obvs idk the quality of the meth being sold there. Seems to be extremely difficult to tell what an "average" dose is, and since it forms tolerance extremely quickly the doses will vary a lot person to person. Anything from >50 mg to over a gram seem to be taken. The fact that most people don't exactly measure out their doses carefully and precisely makes it even harder to tell.

Internet prices are very different from street prices, tho, which are extremely different from place to place too (btw N Korea and the US, obvs, but just between states or regions or cities too).