Thai Ministries to receive 10 billion baht to implement drug rehab policy

[webfact]

Ministries to receive 10 billion baht to implement drug rehab policy

BANGKOK, 15 July 2014 (NNT) – The Bureau of the Budget is set to allocate over 10 billion baht to relevant ministries in the next fiscal year to solve the narcotics problem and rehabilitate drug addicts in line with the policy of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

Acting Permanent Secretary for Justice Chanchao Chaiyanukit revealed that 10.3 billion baht of the fiscal year 2015 budget would be given to the Ministries of Justice, Interior, Education, Labor and Social Development and Human Security to make an integrative effort to stamp out the problem of drug abuse in Thai society. The five ministries will cooperate with the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) in pursuing drug abusers and putting them through treatment and rehabilitation processes.

On the Justice Ministry’s part, Mr Chanchao said changes would be made to the regulations of the Department of Corrections to allow all provincial governors to inspect any prisons in their areas without the need for prior approval. The move is believed to help the governors take full charge of the drug eradication policy in their provinces.

Furthermore, officials of the Department of Probation will be given the authority to periodically conduct urine tests on drug abusers on probation so as to deter them from returning to their addiction during their freedom. In cooperation with the ONCB, those who finish rehabilitation programs will also be assisted in their return to normal life.


-- NNT 2014-07-15

[ChrisY1]

Forced drug rehabilitation has never worked.....anywhere.....

[jaltsc]

"...make an integrative effort to stamp out the problem of drug abuse in Thai society. The five ministries will cooperate with the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) in pursuing drug abusers and putting them through treatment and rehabilitation processes....those who finish rehabilitation programs will also be assisted in their return to normal life."

Piie in the sky thinking. This policy has never been successful in western countries where the resources were superior to that of present Thailand. As long as there is poverty, lack of better education and economic opportunities, and the availability of cheap drugs, the problem will continue. An alternative to the present living situation needs to be created. Returning to "normal life" for many means going back to being poor, with no hope of improving their impoverished existence and using drugs to ease the pain. When one is poor, the threat of incarceration is not much of a deterrent.

Punishment has never worked and even the best and costliest rehab programs in the west show a very low success rate after two years of the individual returning to the same living environment.

Edited July 14, 2014 by jaltsc

[lostsoul49]

It won't stop a single addict. They only stop when they want to.

They don't need education, they already know it all.

They mostly take drugs to escape the reality of life. You have to change their lives to stop the appeal of the drugs and even then in most cases they will continue for kicks or just peer pressure.

What a waste of 10 Billion.

These old farts in the Junta are years behind the times, younger blood needed.

[Halion]

In a society such as Thailand they will have as much success with this approach as poking butter up a porcupines ass with a red hot knitting needle. Eradicate the cause and not just the effect. This is typical Thai mentality . There would be far less problems if the enforcement and judicial system could come together to prevent the availability of illegal narcotics. Reduce the source by what ever means is at your disposal and the number of people falling victim to drug abuse will decrease.

Supplying and using drugs damages peoples lives therefor damage the lives of those who pray on them for profit. Put them away for a very long time. Once the reward is no longer worth the risk the dealers. mules and manufactures will significantly drop.

[Alwyn]

another hare-brained scheme

[fullcave]

Great news. Will be much cheaper to treat drug addicts then to lock them up like animals in a cage and not give them treatment. The war on drugs has been a massive failure. If drug addiction is indeed a treatable disease, then I say go for it.