Cliff Notes
- The detox programme at Wat Tham Krabok monastery employs an extreme method involving steam baths, a complex potion, and induced vomiting to treat yaba addiction.
- Yaba, a potent methamphetamine, is increasingly accessible and cheap, exacerbating addiction rates, particularly in Thailand’s Golden Triangle region.
- The ongoing surge in yaba production and trafficking is driven by inexpensive precursor chemicals from China and India, complicating law enforcement efforts.
Inside the monastery where ‘crazy medicine’ addicts drink secret potion to detox | World News
In front of us, dozens of men line up to take a sweltering steam bath together, despite the temperature outside hitting 35C.
When they emerge from the heat, they drink a dark green liquid of more than 100 ingredients as music plays.
After drinking the secret potion, the men vomit while they kneel on the floor alongside each other.
It is an obscure, uncomfortable ritual to witness, but they emerge seemingly revived.
What we have witnessed is part of a “cold turkey” detox programme in a monastery for Thai men addicted to yaba, a methamphetamine mixed with caffeine.
