captagon

[kap-tuh-gon]

noun

1. a former brand name for fenethylline.

Word History and Origins

Origin of captagon¹

First recorded in 1960–65; originally a German trademark

Example Sentences

The Syrian interior ministry said Monday it seized about 12 million captagon stimulant pills in a raid on a drug smuggling network operating near Damascus.

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Following "precise monitoring and tracking of a smuggling network attempting to traffic large quantities of narcotics abroad", security forces seized "around 12 million captagon pills in the Al-Dumayr area", Brigadier General Khaled Eid, director of the Anti-Narcotics Department, said in a ministry statement.

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Jordan’s former foreign minister Marwan Muasher noted the practical mood: “Maybe Syria can become a trade route again. Maybe some refugees will go back. Maybe the Captagon trade will be diminished. Most of the Arab world sees no alternative. We need to work with him.”

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Captagon was part of a drug empire that bankrolled Assad’s inner circle, with a major role for Assad’s brother, Maher al-Assad, who headed Syria’s fourth army division, which was heavily implicated in the drug’s production and distribution.

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“Yes, we are seeing evidence that Captagon is very much being disrupted in Syria,” said Caroline Rose, a political analyst at New Lines Institute who has done extensive research on the Captagon trade.

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