GROWING DRUG USE LAMENTED

Sen. Loren Legarda yesterday expressed alarm over the swelling use of
illegal drugs among the youth and urged the government to intensify its
drug prevention campaigns to curb the addiction and trafficking.

Legarda, a member of the Senate illegal drugs committee, said the demand
for illegal drugs, including metamphenamine hydrochloride or shabu, has
been increasing because of the government's lack of comprehensive anti-drug
policy.

``The government has failed to curb the demand side of the drug problem due
to the lack of a comprehensive anti-drug policy,'' she said, adding that
the use of illegal drugs obviously has lured more foreign ``fiends'' to
operate in the country.

``And where there is an increasing demand from users, drug suppliers can't
be far behind,'' Legard said, citing latest government statistics showing
how much has been confiscated from illegal drugs' use.

Philippine National Police figures showed that operatives had confiscated
some P613 million worth of illicit drugs from at least 39 foreigners who
were captured in the first 10 months of 1998.

Of the P613 million, P557 were from 278.5 kilos of shabu, P30 million from
some 492 grams of cocaine, P20 million from one ton of marijuana, and P6
million from the 765 grams of heroin.

Legarda also furnished Senate media people a roster of identified foreign
drug dealers arrested for drug trafficking, of whom 22 were from mainland
China and seven from Taiwan.

The roster includes four Japanese nationals and one national each from the
United States, Austria, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone and Lesotho.
Most of these foreign drug dealers are facing death penalty.

Legarda said the government should be ``more aggressive'' in its anti-drug
campaigns, particularly in prevention education programs among the youth.

The Senate committee on illegal drugs, chaired by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, has
been swamped with bills and resolutions but has not yet conducted a single
public hearing since Congress opened on July 27.