Lina: Drug Trafficking Rakes P216-B a Year

BAGUIO CITY - Drug syndicates have earned P216 billion from selling
drugs to some 1.8 million addicts in the country, Interior and Local
Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. said.

Quoting a 1999 national survey of Philippine households, Lina said the
drug menace has become a bigger threat to the country's security than
the 35-year-old communist insurgency.

"The drug menace is the biggest national security threat in the
country today," he said.

A regular user takes drugs three times a week, he added.

Lina said the annual earnings of a drug syndicate are higher than the
combined annual sales of some of the country's biggest firms like San
Miguel Corp. and giant telecommunications providers, Smart and Globe.

"It is draining our economy that much," he said.

Each of the 1.8 million regular drug users consumes at least six to
eight grams of shabu a week or a total of 108 million grams a year, he
added.

Lina who is also Dangerous Drugs Board chairman, said the drug menace
is directly related to the upsurge of heinous and high-profile crimes
like murder, rape, theft and other street crimes.

Some 60 to 70 percent of the crimes committed in the country in the
past were drug-related, he added.

Lina said the Arroyo administration, acknowledging the seriousness of
the drug menace, has re-launched a more heightened campaign against
illegal drugs and drug syndicates.

"We will leave no space for drug pushers up to the barangay level," he
said.

The government is focusing its campaign on the barangay level by
employing community-based drug abuse councils.

"We dream of a drug free Philippines by 2010," he said.

The stepped-up campaign has led to the destruction of at least 19
shabu laboratories last year and the "neutralization" of 12
transnational drug syndicates, he added.

Lina said authorities had arrested 23,000 users who are now in jail,
and 249 policemen found to be involved in the illegal drug trade were
either dismissed from service or charged with administrative and
criminal cases.

Although the government has dealt a heavy blow against drug
syndicates, the country still has a long way to go, he added.

Lina said the government has been closely working with Chinese
authorities to clamp down on Chinese drug syndicates that have been
transporting drugs into the country or bringing technology for
manufacturing shabu, he added.

Lina said the dealing in any quantity of drugs is punishable with a
life sentence under Republic Act 9165, the new Dangerous Drugs Act. -
Artemio Dumlao