PDEA TAGS NEGROS. OCC.AS DRUG-CONSUMER MARKET

Negros Occidental and Bacolod City have been primarily categorized by the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and police as among the consumer markets
for prohibited drugs nationwide.

At the same time, the police also said that shabu is now the number one
drug-of-choice of a wide cross-section of society in Negros Occidental,
from pedicab drivers to scions of prominent families.

Bacolod City also remains the main distribution point of prohibited drugs
in Negros Occidental, the police added.

The seal-off operation conducted by the police and 6th Regional Mobile
Group troopers in Brgy. 2, categorized as the drug trade center of Bacolod
City, helped greatly in downgrading the supply of shabu and other types of
drugs during the MassKara celebration, Inspector Jonathan Lorilla said.

Of the 153 drug peddlers listed in the police order of battle in Negros
Occidental, except Bacolod City, 85 have been arrested and charged in court
for illegal possession of prohibited drugs.

The remaining 68 drug peddlers are now subject of a province-wide
operations by the different police units, in coordination with the PDEA and
other law enforcement agencies.

Police investigations showed that the prices of shabu have increased by 25
percent.

The police claimed that the reduction of shabu supply is now being felt in
several key municipalities and cities of Negros Occidental, and attributed
it to the sealing off of Brgy. 2 in Bacolod City.