From Captagon to Shabu: how the Gulf's stimulant market changed in 18 months

For a decade the Middle East's stimulant story was one drug: captagon, the amphetamine-family pill mass-produced in Syria and smuggled by the container-load to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the Gulf. Then, in December 2024, the Assad regime fell — and the market didn't calm down. It fragmented and mutated. This is the story of what replaced it, drawn from UNODC's World Drug Report 2026, UNODC regional reporting, and the EU Drugs Agency's 2026 strategic assessment.

What actually happened after December 2024

• Production scattered, not stopped. The industrial captagon base moved out of Syria into Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Türkiye, Egypt — and Kuwait, which seized three captagon labs in 2024 alone. Dutch and German manufacturers have entered the supply chain.
• Seizures hit record levels — which means supply is still enormous. UNODC counts a minimum of 177 million tablets intercepted across the Arab region between December 2024 and December 2025. Syria reported seizing 500M+ tablets in that window; Lebanon 78M.
• Prices doubled. With the Syrian pipeline disrupted, the street price of a captagon tablet roughly doubled in several markets (WDR 2026).
• Meth filled the gap. Displaced users and suppliers shifted to methamphetamine — locally 'shabu' — which UNODC now assesses as one of the three most-used drugs in Saudi Arabia, alongside cannabis and captagon.
• The Gulf became a producer and transit zone. Iran intercepted 3,663 kg of meth bound for Europe and the Persian Gulf in Q1 2026 alone; Kuwait dismantled a six-brothers syndicate producing meth while trafficking captagon, heroin and hashish (March 2023); the UAE is one of the most-cited transit countries for meth into Saudi Arabia, through the Al Baha border crossing.

Why meth is not 'just another captagon'

Both are stimulants, but they behave differently. Captagon pills (in practice usually amphetamine mixed with caffeine and theophylline) deliver a 6–10 hour amphetamine experience. Methamphetamine is longer-acting, more potent milligram-for-milligram, and far more neurotoxic with repeated use — and its illicit production chemistry produces more unpredictable residue. A user who switches from pills to 'shabu' expecting the same thing is taking a different drug with a harder addiction profile.

What this means if someone you know uses in the Gulf

• Know the help lines: UAE Hisn/Mukafih 800 44 (24/7, confidential, and UAE law exempts voluntary treatment from prosecution) · Qatar Naufar +974 4494 6000 · Kuwait MoH +965 2462 1770
• Watch for the switch: someone moving from pills to 'shabu' is stepping up in addiction potential — changed sleep patterns, weight loss, paranoia are early signs
• Stimulant emergencies = call an ambulance first; cooling and hydration while waiting
• Remember the legal reality is harsh in most of the region — the UAE helpline exemption exists precisely so fear of prosecution doesn't stop people getting help

The supply map now

Where this is heading

UNODC and EUDA both flag the same trajectory: a more fragmented, more violent, more chemically diverse Gulf market. Meth economics favor smaller, harder-to-detect labs over container shipments; every regional seizure record of the last 24 months fits that pattern. For harm reduction, the practical consequence is that users can no longer assume a 'known' pill — the same brand name now routes through entirely different chemistry.