AFP Updated at 12:20 p.m. ET on 2021-02-05 Methamphetamine production has quadrupled in Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle region in recent years, the head of the U.N.’s counter-narcotics office in Bangkok told BenarNews on Thursday, saying illegal manufacturers of synthetic drugs have changed ingredients used to start the process. In the past, enforcement agencies tracked pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, two chemicals used to produce methamphetamine, said Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia and Pacific representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Now, three pre-cursors – phenyl 2-propanone, caffeine and propionyl chloride – are being used, according to a Thai press release.