AMPHETAMINE PILL SCOURGE HAS SPREAD TO SOUTH, SAYS GENERAL

Thailand's Drug Problem

HAADYAI -- Amphetamine addiction, which has caused havoc in Thailand's
cities and has been named its top national security threat, has now
spread to the rural south, the army says.

""I believe more than 50 per cent of villages in the south already
have a drugs problem,'' said Lt-Gen Narong Denudom, the commander of
Thailand's Fourth Army.

""We are very concerned because drug use is spreading rapidly through
the community,'' he said, and added that things were probably going to
get worse.

In a region where many toil in rubber plantations and in the fishing
industry, drug barons were finding it easy to recruit a network of
pushers, he said.

""Because people in the south are poor, it's easy to lure them into
the trade.''

Another factor behind the boom in amphetamines -- known as ""ya baa''
or ""crazy medicine'' here -- is an efficient new smuggling route
which extends from the drug factories in Myanmar to southern Thai ports.

The Thai army's push to close off the rugged northern reaches of the
Myanmar border to drug smugglers has forced the trade to be diverted,
by air and sea, to the town of Ranong on the southernmost tip of the
border. From there they are distributed throughout the country.

Haadyai, the main southern city, is buffeted not just by amphetamines
from the north, but also by Ecstasy, which is shipped in from
Malaysia, the army commander said.

The Thai military estimates 600 million amphetamine pills flooded into
Thailand last year across its long border with Myanmar.

Community leaders say drug addiction is reaching crisis proportions,
with more than 600,000 Thai youths reportedly hooked on cheap supplies
of ya baa.

The narcotics control board has announced a plan to tackle the problem
at the community level by targeting a quarter of the country's 71,500
villages to ensure they are drug-free by the end of next year.

But one army source was critical of the government's response:
"Although we are confident we can solve the drugs problem in our
area, to get rid of drugs from the country, we need to take a much
more active approach.'' --AFP