As Syria's economy collapsed during the long civil war, the country became something of a narcostate

The regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad was estimated to earn billions of dollars annually from trafficking a drug known as Captagon.

Captagon was created as a legal pharmaceutical drug in Germany in the 1960s. It gives users a rush of energy. It can make them very productive in the short term. However, it's very addictive. It can cause hallucinations and heart problems, so it was outlawed.

But it gained a second life as an illegal party drug popular, among other places, in the Middle East. So when Syria's civil war erupted in 2011, the already weak economy imploded. President Bashar al-Assad was desperate for money, and the country decided to make itself a hub of the Captagon trade.