Typically it is mixed in cakes and drinks or sold in tiny paper 20 mm packages. It's not injected. Vietnam has produced its own opium for many years and continues to do so in some areas despite official attempts to stamp the practice out. But drugs experts say the communist country is increasingly being used as both a market and conduit for narcotics heading to Australia and the United States from East Asia's notorious Golden Triangle producing area. According to UN information, heroin, cannabis, psychotropic substances and opium are being trafficked in growing quantities in many areas of Vietnam.
Officials say abuse rates are increasing fast.
In the first eight months of this year more heroin was seized than in the whole of last year. At the same time drug offences increased by 13 per cent over the same period a year earlier, with 70 per cent of those arrested below 30 years in age.