A tablet version of methamphetamine called "yaba" has become the most popular form of the drug in East Asia, according to the United Nations Office on Drug Control (UNODC).

UNODC reported May 19 that yaba, manufactured mainly in Myanmar, is widely used in that country as well as Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The pills are a mix of 30 percent methamphetamine and caffeine and act as a central nervous system stimulant. The pills are typically crushed and smoked rather than ingested.

Use of yaba has been growing among young people in the region, UNODC said, after years of use mainly by workers like truck drivers. Recently, yaba also has spread to India and Pakistan.

"It is a drug that is cheap to manufacture and cheap to purchase. You introduce it somewhere and develop a market fairly quickly because it is cheap and highly addictive," said Jeremy Douglas of the UNODC. "With one tablet costing as little as US$ 1 in Cambodia to US$ 5 in Bangkok, the drug is very easy to produce if in possession of the necessary precursor materials ... You can have labs producing 10,000 tablets per hour hidden anywhere."