Narcotics returning to the deep South

Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla says narcotics are staging a comeback in the southern border provinces of Thailand. He says narcotics have already been spreading to a great extent in some areas of the region.

He says even though the ratio of narcotics in the South is only seven percent in comparison to other regions of the country, the problem is still serious because it also affects national security. He says the government will set up an operation team to eradicate illegal drugs in the three southern border provinces.

This year, the Ministry of Public Health rehabilitated about 67,500 drug addicts. 20,000 of those were willing to be treated while others were convicts or compulsory drug abusers. 90 percent of the patients were males.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 20 April 2007

This is clearly a misunderstanding. Under the previous government, drugs were eliminated and Thailand was made drug free.

Narcotics returning to the deep South

Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla says narcotics are staging a comeback in the southern border provinces of Thailand. He says narcotics have already been spreading to a great extent in some areas of the region.

He says even though the ratio of narcotics in the South is only seven percent in comparison to other regions of the country, the problem is still serious because it also affects national security. He says the government will set up an operation team to eradicate illegal drugs in the three southern border provinces.

This year, the Ministry of Public Health rehabilitated about 67,500 drug addicts. 20,000 of those were willing to be treated while others were convicts or compulsory drug abusers. 90 percent of the patients were males.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 20 April 2007

This guy is a flake - e.g. alcohol advertising ban, compulsory licensing of AIDS drugs that are manufactured by the GPO to such low standard they increase resistance to the medication. The information he is quoting is probably unreliable or fake and it is likely to be an attempt to make a headline as an excuse to justify some more attrocities in the South without appearing to contradict Surayud's soft line and "apology" to Southern Malays for the army's brutal treatment over the last 100 years.

Public Health Ministry says drug cocktail mixed with mosquito repellent now popular in the southern border provinces

The Ministry of Public Health discloses that a drug cocktail mixed with mosquito repellant coil is currently popular amongst Muslim youths in the 3 southern border provinces, and warns that consumption may lead to paralysis.

Public Health Minister Mongkhol Na Songkhla (์มงคล ณ สงขลา) inspected the drugs rehabilitation center in Pattani. He said that from the visit he found that the drugs problem has started to regain intensity in some areas. He said the most popular of the drugs is a cocktail combined from 3 different drugs and mixed with mosquito repellent coils. Another factor that contributed to its popularity is the cocktail's absence of odor. The cocktail is consumed in liquid form after boiling.

MD. Mongkhol said that the addition of mosquito repellent is due to the youths' belief that the substance would make them "drunk like mosquitoes". The public health minister said this is a dangerous belief as the chemicals in the repellents destroy the nervous system. He said excessive intake into human body would lead to nervous system symptoms.

MD. Prat Bunyawongwiroet (ปราชญ์ บุณยวงศ์วิโรจน), the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Public Health, said that in 2006, 578 people were treated at the Pattani rehabilitation center. This was a decline of 995 people back in 2005. He said that notably several drugs were used in conjunction by about 10% of the addicts treated.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 23 April 2007