The Ice riders

Ice (Methamphetamine) is the most accessible drug in Cambodia. The drug generates important changes in the structure and functionality of the brain such as psychosis or paranoia. Seiha and Yark have been smoking Ice for 10 years and they look aged before turning thirty: skinny, tired and depressed.

If they continue like this, in a couple of years they will be dead. This is the foreseeable future for Seiha, Yark and their friends. They look aged before turning thirty: skinny, tired and depressed. Seiha and Yark have been smoking Ice for ten years, a crystal stone made of methamphetamine but more pure and corrosive.

When he is not high, Neth passes the time in bed drawing circles in the white pages of his notebook. He talks to himself and he doesn’t go out of the bedroom he rents in the center of Phnom Penh. His brother Yark is in charge of getting the rice and water, as well as drugs.

The First Minister of Cambodia, influenced by the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has launched a plan to finish with drug trafficking in six months by arresting and imprisoning drug traffickers and the addicted. The majority of them are young and poor. In the eyes of the government, they are dispensable citizens who need to be locked up.

Methamphetamine is the most accessible drug in Cambodia, a country that produces it, traffics it and consumes it as much as Thailand or the Philippines. The drug generates important changes in the structure and functionality of the brain such as psychosis, paranoia, hallucinations and memory loss.

However, its instant effect relaxes and makes one feel more secure, happy and free of any problems or worry. Untouchable. This sensation of power is a refuge for the addicted Cambodians; a balcony from where they can gaze at the horizon for a couple of minutes and take a deep breath before going back to their hideout, a dark corner where their minds levitate.