On September 20, 2022, the US House of Representatives approved the passage of H.R.6265 also known as the Captagon Act. This resolution calls for the applicable departments of the US Government to come up with an “interagency strategy to disrupt and dismantle narcotics production and trafficking and affiliated networks” linked to the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria.” This strategy is to be completed and presented within 180 days of the act’s passage as it has been deemed important to the national security of the United States.
Captagon, an amphetamine originally marketed as a treatment for conditions like narcolepsy, depression, and hyperactivity decades ago, has been banned in most countries since the 1980s. However, versions of the drug which are still referred to as Captagon were still being produced in Lebanon and Syria due to its popularity as a stimulant with fear-inhibiting capabilities that have proven to be useful during protracted firefights in war-torn areas. After the US cracked down on Captagon producers in Lebanon, the Assad regime has evolved into the capital of Captagon production and distribution as a means for circumventing the sanctions imposed by the Caesar Act that were intended to cut off the financial resources the regime had been using to wage its war against the people of Syria.
The value of Captagon exports from Syria in 2020 is estimated at no less than 3.46 billion US dollars, which exceeds the value of all Syrian exports
Osama Kadi
In September 2022, Dr. Osama Kadi, economic advisor to the Global Justice Center for Research and Economic Studies, published a report that outlined the long history of drug production and distribution that began when Hafez Assad was in power and how it has evolved into the current situation under his son, Bashar. Dr. Kadi also explained how dangerous the current proliferation of Captagon is to the young people of Syria and the surrounding countries where its sales have been extremely profitable due to its highly addictive nature. “It (Syria) has been described as the Captagon capital of the world which is now more categorized, adaptive, and technologically advanced than ever before. The value of Captagon exports from Syria in 2020 is estimated at no less than 3.46 billion US dollars, which exceeds the value of all Syrian exports. It explains the financial resources that helped the Assad regime manage the Syrian “economy” for a decade” Dr. Kadi explained.
The work of the United Nations seems contradictory and antithetical to human progress
Osama Kadi
One of the most disturbing pieces of information contained in Dr. Kadi’s extensive report concerns the United Nations. “The work of the United Nations seems contradictory and antithetical to human progress” declares Dr. Kadi, and rightly so. Especially when it comes to Syria. “The latest and most blatant example of this is the provocative news of the appointment of the “ambassador” of the Syrian regime, Dr. Ghada Wali as the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Director-General of the United Nations Office in Vienna,” Dr. Kadi continues in his report.
What could have possibly been the motivation for such an appointment in light of the fact that Syria is now well-known as a “narco-state” due to its manufacturing and trafficking of Captagon as a means to continue its war on its own people that includes the bombing of civilian homes, schools and hospitals and the use of chemical weapons that the UN’s own investigators have determined the Assad regime was responsible for.
Dr. Kadi delves further into the contradictory nature of the situation in his report and offers extensive information that has not previously been available in media coverage of the situation.
