NINE OF 10 ADDICTS ON REHAB HOOKED ON SHABU

Nine out of every 10 Filipino drug users are now hooked on the banned
stimulant, metamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, Sen. Loren Legarda
disclosed recently.

Citing a Dangerous Drugs Board report, Legarda said 93.51 percent of the
4,983 Filipinos admitted to drug rehabilitation centers in 1998 were found
to have been hooked on shabu, also known as the poor man's cocaine.

The rest were found addicted to marijuana, cough syrups and narcotic
pain-killers.

Legarda, Citizens' DrugWatch Foundation executive council member, blamed
the shabu scourge on government's failure to curb both the supply and
demand sides of the drug problem.

On the supply reduction side, the senator said drug interdiction efforts
have been hampered by police corruption and inefficiency. She said drug
busts are being foiled because of tipsters within the police.

The shabu epidemic has been aggravated by the unchecked proliferation of
clandestine laboratories set up in the country by Chinese and Taiwanese
traffickers, the senator added.

She said recent seizures of big shipments of ephedrine, many of which were
discovered accidentally, tend to confirm reports of massive illicit shabu
protection in isolated areas in the countryside.

She said a staggering 1,820 kilos of ephedrine hydrochloride powder have
been seized in the country in the last two years. The powder is one of the
main ingredients in the manufacture of shabu.

On the demand reduction side, Legarda stressed the need for more
aggressive, preventive education in communities, schools and in the
workplace.

She also urged both government and the private sector to expand treatment
services, and to map out strategies to encourage the voluntary
rehabilitative confinement of drug users.