The government is focusing its counternarcotics efforts on methamphetamine, "the most dangerous drug," Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu told reporters on Wednesday.
Speaking at a meeting in the capital Ankara, the minister also hailed the success of a program that uses artificial intelligence in crime analysis to detect potential drug production.
As a country sitting on the crossroads of Asia and Europe, Turkey fights an uphill battle to prevent international drug smuggling while looking to curb domestic drug use. Soylu said meth is a high risk for the country. "We once had the risk of bonzai use but we managed to minimize its risk with our prevention efforts and seizures and we are now working to increase seizure of methamphetamine," he said, referring to a synthetic, cheap drug prevalent in Turkey in recent years.
He said meth use and smuggling have lingered for years but authorities have stepped up action. "Last year, we’ve seen its use spread all across the country. Deaths directly stemming from meth use corresponded to 1.4% of drug-related deaths in 2016 but in 2021, this rate increased to 35.6%. This shows us the severity of the threat," the minister said. He said that Turkey will suffer less from drug-related deaths if it can "stamp out meth use." Soylu noted that a number of countries serve as methamphetamine production hubs, naming Iran, Poland, the Czech Republic and Belgium among them.
"The rate of meth seizures increased by 477% in Europe. We live in a country situated in a place near this danger," he underlined. He added that Turkey is ahead of European countries in terms of seizures, having seized 4.1 tons of methamphetamine in 2020, "double the amount of meth seized in all of Europe in 2020" and this number rose to 5.5 tons in 2021.
Introducing the Analysis Systems Narcotics Network (ASENA), an artificial intelligence program used by the police counternarcotics department, Soylu said ASENA, whose acronym also refers to a she-wolf in Turkic mythology, helped in 3,594 instances of drug seizures so far. "It is the first locally made crime analysis platform. It taps into millions of data obtained from a database on drug seizures and other criminal activities and employs artificial intelligence. For instance, it tracks down a marked suspect and follows his/her daily routine and if she/he deviates from the routine, it monitors any unusual activity. This recently helped us to seize 52 kilograms (114 pounds) of explosives in a recent operation," he said.
Soylu said authorities have also drafted a road map to fight methamphetamine use and have sent actions that need to be taken to local authorities in each of the 81 provinces. "We also urge families to monitor their children they suspect of using drugs. Please be aware of meth use. We also call upon the youth to abstain from meth use. Even one time use gets you hooked," he said.