bkk post: EDITORIAL

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

                                             August 8, 1998 


                                  


                   EDITORIAL


 Fighting drugs to
 save a generation

 An alarming report from the nation's drug
 watchdogs spells out the details of a new
 trend. Thailand's drug abusers and addicts
 are becoming younger and younger.
 Statistics indicate that more than half the
 people who take drugs are now less than
 20 years old. Clearly we are letting our
 youth down.

 The report by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board is packed
 with bad news. Production of illegal drugs is up throughout the
 country. The number of addicts and abusers has increased in the past
 several years. The number continues to rise and shows no sign of
 flattening out, let alone receding. The drug of choice is now
 amphetamine. It can be, and is, manufactured close to home, with
 Bangkok-area pill factories competing with the established Burma
 drug trafficking trade for the obscene profits that illegal drugs generate.

 In short, we are losing the war on drugs. The dry, probably
 understated ONCB report gives only a few grains of optimism. The
 number of heroin cases prosecuted last year dropped by 10 percent -
 but there were still 30,000 arrests for selling the drug. About 300,000
 addicts have applied to receive treatment for their problem over the
 past six years.

 But if heroin has lost a bit of its appeal, which is arguable, the rise in
 amphetamine abuse in the past five years is sobering. As the board
 makes clear, illicit use of speed was once closely identified with a few
 poorly respected professions - truck drivers, prostitutes and night
 workers. They took the pills to stay awake, and few people envied
 them their jobs or their addiction.

 The discovery of the speed pills by teenagers has clearly caught
 authorities off guard. Worse, their initial reaction to employ more of
 the same old threats, arrests and jailings has failed to phase our young
 people. On the contrary, the country's so-called hi-so have succeeded
 in turning amphetamines and similar drugs into something of a fad. The
 message from much of the Bangkok society trail in the past couple of
 years has been a relentless message to our younger citizens: If you
 don't take speed pills, you aren't part of the in-crowd.

 There are exceptions, to be sure. The best example has been a
 decision by some entertainment promoters to ban clients caught using
 drugs. But even these attempts only show up the wrong-headed
 people who get caught in their use of drugs. Few people have talked
 to the impressionable young people who decide every day whether to
 buy and take drugs or not.

 Clearly, the fear of arrest is little, if any, deterrent. Families,
 communities and schools have clearly failed to impress several facts
 about amphetamines and related drugs upon our young people. The
 first is that these are dangerous substances. There is ample proof of
 this from the daily newspaper stories of paranoid, temporarily addled
 amphetamine users who do everything from engaging in violent fights
 to taking hostages to committing suicide. 

 Teenagers must also be taught to accept responsibility for their actions.
 Those caught in drug raids could lose jobs, income and face problems
 later on when their arrest record surfaces in a background check. No
 employer, after all, wants a potential drug addict on his payroll. There
 is also a lesson about friendship for many young people. They should
 consider whether a true friend would provide a harmful substance.

 Authorities, starting with the police, have done a poor job in battling
 amphetamines. Given the clear opposition to the drug by communities
 throughout Thailand, the police must stop making excuses for their
 lack of progress against major dealers. Politicians and local influential
 figures who dabble in the drug trade deserve to be exposed. Police
 must be able to arrest them and hold them for trial without fear of
 punishment. If we are to save the next generation, it will take a
 concerted effort by everyone.



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 Last Modified: Sat, Aug 8, 1998
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