MORE STUDENT ADDICTS FORESEEN

More students are likely to become addicted to drugs this year based on the
steady rise in the number of students receiving treatment for drug
addiction since 1992, the Narcotics Control Board said.

An Abac poll conducted in 1999 showed 663,290 students between Mathayom 6
and undergraduate level either used drugs or were involved in the drug
trade, or both. The number accounted for over 12% of all students.

Just under 55% were addicted to methamphetamines, 20% to marijuana and 18%
to other solvents.

The board found drugs would be more easily available as demand rises.

The rise in drug abuse was blamed on the media, which enticed youths to
experiment with drugs by exposing them to foreign cultures.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the government
declared war on drugs and called for concerted efforts by all parties to
suppress it.

He said suppression in the past was futile and the problem was on a
national scale.