Jessaidefaireunblog

The global nature and environmental destructiveness of psychoactive drugs are well illustrated in the production of MDMA. Currently, the production of sassafras oil, the source of MDMA, has been linked to the devastation of old growth forests in Southwestern Cambodia. Sassafras oil from the Cardamom mountain areas of Cambodia is more than 90 percent pure, so the desire to access this limited resource has resulted in the mass harvesting of trees, which has severely damaged the local ecosystem. Illicit factories can be found throughout the region, and the influx of workers into the camps had led to a depletion of wildlife in the area as well as the pollution of the rivers from chemical runoff from the distilled oil. These rivers flow into the rest of Cambodia through the Mekong and Sap rivers, so not only are the flora and fauna from the immediate area being killed off, but the entire nation’s water system is being polluted.