ILLICIT DRUGS MAKE A BONFIRE

The Thai government burned some 3.5 tonnes of seized narcotics worth
nearly 11 billion baht (about $285 million) Monday morning to mark
Thailand's observance of the International Day against Drug Abuse and
Illicit Drug Trafficking,

Public Health Minister Pinij Jarusombat presided over a ceremony to
destroy the seized drugs, the 34th of its kind over the past years, at
the Bang Pa-in Industrial Estate in this central province of Ayutthaya
Province.

No problem: The drugs burned in an internationally standardised,
environmentally friendly system, called pyrolytic incineration to
ensure the environment was protected as well as the drug abusers the
drugs never reached.

Burned were 32 million tablets of methamphetamines weighing 2,800
kilogrammes, as well as heroin, opium, ecstasy, cocaine, cannabis and
codeine.

The event was witnessed by representatives of Thai and international
agencies and organisations, including foreign journalists.

The Thai government declared its war on drugs in 2001, resulting in
the number of seized drugs having steadily dropped on average,
according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where the seized
drugs were stored before being destroyed.

The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is
celebrated annually on June 26 to commemorate the signature of the
Declaration adopted at the International Conference against Drug Abuse
and Illicit Drug Trafficking in 1987.