Bangkok At The Centre Of Thailand's Drug Problem, Seminar Told

[webfact]

Bangkok at the centre of Thailand's drug problem, seminar told

The Nation

Bangkok hosts 20 per cent of the drug abuse in the country, as the capital is a delivery, storage and pickup point for narcotic rackets, according to a seminar hosted yesterday by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

BANGKOK: -- "Ice" flakes, or methamphetamine, have become increasingly popular among young people in Bangkok, especially students aged 15-19, said the speakers, who represented antinarcotics units from various agencies, including the BMA's own centre.

Rich methamphetamine, with 95percent purity, is widely available and most popular with young users. The number of those seeking treatment and rehabilitation is high at 70 per cent, ??of what?? however, with The youngest person seeking treatment and rehabilitation was reported to be 12, the seminar was told.

Arrests and seizures of drugs are mostly conducted in northern districts of Bangkok, which are links to delivery routes connecting the Central region to the Northeast, where the drugs are made or smuggled through.

Deputy Bangkok Governor Dr Malinee Sukkhavejvorakij said the BMA would intensify its antinarcotics operations at the community level, relying on cooperation and participation by residents motivated by care and family love as key factors in reforming young drug users.

Meanwhile in Chiang Mai, police yesterday raided a warehouse and seized more than 6,000 bottles of pseudoephedrine based cold syrup while the owners produced proof that the medicine was awaiting pickup by a producer after it had been banned for sale.

The warehouse belongs to Om Muang Pharmacy in Muang district, and owners Mathee Pholarj and wife Janthira showed police documents stating that the bottles had been recalled and stored at the warehouse pending delivery to two companies, Thai Nakorn Patana Co and BM Pharmacy Co.

Mae Ping police confiscated the bottles for further verification of the documents provided by the couple, who have not been charged with any offence.

In Si Sa Ket, it has been discovered that 250,000 pseudoephedrine tablets, in addition to the many million earlier discovered or reported during an ongoing crackdown, have gone missing from Phoo Sing Hospital. Police and Department of Special Investigation agents said the hospital staff were cooperating and an initial finding over this case would be completed by next week.

In a separate probe at Kamalasai Hospital in Kalasin, civilian antinarcotics agents said that missing pseudoephedrine tablets, totalling 350,000 so far from this hospital, had been handed over to Thai makers in many districts in border provinces in the North and the Northeast.

"There are links between the case at Kamalasai Hospital and Udon Thani General Hospital, where staff found involved will be facing seizures of their assets," said Songkhram Khamtonwong, a senior Office of Narcotics Control Board official in charge of the probe of this case.

-- The Nation 2012-03-31

[theblether]

I think you will find it's the police that are at the centre of Thailands drug problem

[lovetotravel]

I think you will find it's the police that are at the centre of Thailands drug problem

Police, army and other government agencies.

[Payboy]

Bangkok At The Centre

Oh no! Not a hub again.

[noitom]

No visible news, ever, about big traffickers and money people. You can actually blame the media like The Nation for no investigative journalism which would be a good start in 'smoking out" the real criminals.

[whybother]

20% of the population. 20% of the drug users.

Next...

[AZBill]

Who would have ever thought one of the biggest cities in SE Asia is the center of the drug trade! It has the most cops and government people so that conclusion should have been pretty obvious! MP in this country stands for Meth Pushers!

[geriatrickid]

No visible news, ever, about big traffickers and money people. You can actually blame the media like The Nation for no investigative journalism which would be a good start in 'smoking out" the real criminals.

Bangkok is a region controlled by the Democrats. why would the nation want to do anything that me embarrass a Democrat led government?

[damo]

They do seem to be at the bottom line, aiming for ingedients for the manufacture which IMO is a good angle. I don't know what will happen if they close it down in a BIG way, prices of MA will sky rocket along with crime. Meth creates some nasty critters.

[geriatrickid]

20% of the population. 20% of the drug users.

Next...

Let's do the math;

Thailand population est. 2011: 67,000,000 @20%= 13,400,000 approx.

Bangkok Municpality population: Approx. 8,000,000 = 11.9% of Thai pop'n

Bangkok Metropolitan area population: Approx. 11,900,000 = 17.8% of Thai pop'n

The drug problem is mainly within the municipality itself hence the reference to Bankok and not the BMA.

[heybruce]

No visible news, ever, about big traffickers and money people. You can actually blame the media like The Nation for no investigative journalism which would be a good start in 'smoking out" the real criminals.

Libel laws make if very easy to file charges of deformation of character, or perhaps "loss of face", and the consequences can be severe. For this reason newspapers don't dare name important people. It's an effective way of giving the country the appearance of a free press while effectively stifling any press campaign against corruption.

Edited March 31, 2012 by heybruce

[lovetotravel]

No visible news, ever, about big traffickers and money people. You can actually blame the media like The Nation for no investigative journalism which would be a good start in 'smoking out" the real criminals.

Libel laws make if very easy to file charges of deformation of character, or perhaps "loss of face", and the consequences can be severe. For this reason newspapers don't dare name important people. It's an effective way of giving the country the appearance of a free press while effectively stifling any press campaign against corruption.

Exactly right. Did you see the recent article where powerful figures were at the center of the missing cold pills? All they could do is give first initials. Anything more, and they'd get sued, and probably lose. Thailand needs to reform these draconian laws. This has nothing to do with the Democrats. It's the Thai legal system.

[AleG]

I, for one, would like to give recognition to the news editor for trying to get the reporter to write an article that makes sense.

The number of those seeking treatment and rehabilitation is high at 70 per cent, ??of what?? however, with The youngest person seeking treatment and rehabilitation was reported to be 12, the seminar was told.

I can picture the editor downing a double of whisky and banging his head on the desk seeing his remark both ignored and printed in the final article.

Edited March 31, 2012 by AleG

[anterian]

I, for one, would like to give recognition to the news editor for trying to get the reporter to write an article that makes sense.

The number of those seeking treatment and rehabilitation is high at 70 per cent, ??of what?? however, with The youngest person seeking treatment and rehabilitation was reported to be 12, the seminar was told.

I can picture the editor downing a double of whisky and banging his head on the desk seeing his remark both ignored and printed in the final article.

I think no one else spotted this, or else assumed it was a typo!

[tragickingdom]

If "Bangkok" is translated in: Politicians, Police, army and elite than the header of this article is spot on. Maybe if Thai families watched out a bit more for their children they did not had to turn to drugs. I would use a pill to get away from reality if I had to do it all by myself from a very young age onwards.

[whybother]

20% of the population. 20% of the drug users.

Next...

Let's do the math;

Thailand population est. 2011: 67,000,000 @20%= 13,400,000 approx.

Bangkok Municpality population: Approx. 8,000,000 = 11.9% of Thai pop'n

Bangkok Metropolitan area population: Approx. 11,900,000 = 17.8% of Thai pop'n

The drug problem is mainly within the municipality itself hence the reference to Bankok and not the BMA.

Well, according to Wiki, the Bangkok Metro population is 14.5 million, which is 21.7%. And it was a BMA seminar which talked about the northern districts of Bangkok and the connections to the central district and NE ... so that would be the metro area of Bangkok.

Next ...

[arrowsdawdle]

No visible news, ever, about big traffickers and money people. You can actually blame the media like The Nation for no investigative journalism which would be a good start in 'smoking out" the real criminals.

Not possible. You can't even print negative restaurant reviews without being sued for defamation or libel.

[arrowsdawdle]

If "Bangkok" is translated in: Politicians, Police, army and elite than the header of this article is spot on. Maybe if Thai families watched out a bit more for their children they did not had to turn to drugs. I would use a pill to get away from reality if I had to do it all by myself from a very young age onwards.

Is it true, as told by a Thai acquaintance, that Thai parents make their kids sleep in the same room with them until they are in high school?

[arrowsdawdle]

I, for one, would like to give recognition to the news editor for trying to get the reporter to write an article that makes sense.

The number of those seeking treatment and rehabilitation is high at 70 per cent, ??of what?? however, with The youngest person seeking treatment and rehabilitation was reported to be 12, the seminar was told.

I can picture the editor downing a double of whisky and banging his head on the desk seeing his remark both ignored and printed in the final article.

I think no one else spotted this, or else assumed it was a typo!

Everybody saw it so pointing out the obvious seemed irrelevant.

[arrowsdawdle]

No visible news, ever, about big traffickers and money people. You can actually blame the media like The Nation for no investigative journalism which would be a good start in 'smoking out" the real criminals.

Libel laws make if very easy to file charges of deformation of character, or perhaps "loss of face", and the consequences can be severe. For this reason newspapers don't dare name important people. It's an effective way of giving the country the appearance of a free press while effectively stifling any press campaign against corruption.

Exactly right. Did you see the recent article where powerful figures were at the center of the missing cold pills? All they could do is give first initials. Anything more, and they'd get sued, and probably lose. Thailand needs to reform these draconian laws. This has nothing to do with the Democrats. It's the Thai legal system.

What's legal about it? Perhaps, illegal system?

[moe666]

No visible news, ever, about big traffickers and money people. You can actually blame the media like The Nation for no investigative journalism which would be a good start in 'smoking out" the real criminals.

Why would they do something they have never done.

[Arkady]

I think you will find it's the police that are at the centre of Thailands drug problem

Police, army and other government agencies.

Now we know that even officials and pharmacists from the laughingly named Public Health Ministry are involved too. Good luck on eliminating the problem with a kid glove approach that involves only jailing a few token small fry without the resources to pay large bribes and letting all the king pins and corrupt government officials carry on.

Without a serious policy to throw the book at puyai criminals they would do better to decriminalise and tax the drug trade.