EXPLOSION OF DRUGS IS NOT CRAZY OR FUN

Last week's report on drug abuse by the UN Economic and Social Commission
for Asia Pacific states that Asian youths outside Thailand refer to
methamphetamines as ``fun drugs''. It highlights that Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra has claimed victory in the war on what Thais call ya ba,
the crazy medicine. Nothing has curbed the voracious appetite for this
cheap and dangerous drug. Speed pills are the fastest growing illegal drug
in the world, with Asia the epicentre of the explosion of abuse.

This is not news in Thailand, but it must be cause for continuing concern.
In 1990, the prime minister's Office of Narcotics Control Board reported
1,297 methamphetamine cases. Last year, close to twice that many suspected
ya ba dealers were killed in the drug crackdown. What has happened is a
lack of attention by authorities and community leaders across the board to
this serious and debilitating threat. Government has paid lip service to
the concept of a proper and sustained war against drugs, without follow-up.

There are those who will snicker over the report in this newspaper that
youngsters are seeking a drug-like high from heavy doses of cough mixture.
That is the wrong reaction. Time after time, authorities have made progress
in the drugs war only to see a different problem pop up in a different
place. This occurs because of poor planning on follow-up action to a
specific crackdown. It also occurs because drug problems are treated mainly
as a matter of law enforcement instead of a society-wide problem.

It is not because of ignorance or poor planning. In March of 2001, when
Prime Minister Thaksin called his first drug conference, he called
specifically for a "holistic'' approach. He said tackling the drug problem
was like playing in an orchestra, each player with his own part to play. In
fact, he was echoing the September 2000 recommendation of ONCB deputy
secretary Kitti Limchaikit. He called on the government before Mr Thaksin's
to "look at the problem with a new, more holistic vision'' and seek input
from all sectors.

Until now, these visions have been little more than suggestions. Drug
crackdowns inevitably continue to target visible street peddlers and
obvious, mostly poor abusers. The Mr Bigs of trafficking continue to
smuggle drugs, corrupt officials and launder their profits. Even worse is
that very young people, on the verge of deciding whether to use or avoid
drugs, have little to sway them except a warning that if they use drugs
they could wind up in jail.

Time and again since his 2001 seminar, Mr Thaksin has spoken of the need
for a proper war on drugs. Recently, he said petty abusers deserve early
release from prison -- an idea the country supports. For purely selfish
reasons, some agencies oppose such a simple and easily achieved goal. Some
parts of the police office, for example, feel that dealing leniently with
minor drug abuse will hurt their arrest statistics.

The UN report now makes it clear that punishment alone is not a drugs
policy. The Thai prison population has doubled in five years because of the
ya ba problem. The 15 biggest jails have a capacity of 90,000 inmates, but
a population of 170,000. The UN report indicates that even Mr Thaksin's
popular but violent crackdown has only pushed a still growing demand for
dangerous speed pills underground.

Methamphetamine-type stimulants cause memory loss and impair thinking.
Users risk malnutrition, bizarre and dangerous behaviour and -- for
pregnant women -- severe damage to the foetus. They are a ``gateway drug'',
as people coming down from their highs turn to heroin, marijuana or
alcohol. Street peddlers are on the run and it is time for a serious drug
war. It must aim to arrest big-time traffickers, shut down the Burmese
border smuggling at any cost, and convince young people the use of crazy
drugs is no fun.