DOES ANYONE HERE HAVE A DRUG POLICY?

It was encouraging last week to hear Laos deny it was responsible for
smuggled drugs, and to see the drug-burning ceremony in Burma. This showed
that at least our neighbours understand they cannot acquiesce to the
international drug trade and have world respect. Rangoon and Vientiane are
deeply deficient in fighting the drug traffickers. But the Thai version of
the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking also
exposed deep and troubling problems in the Thai fight against this evil.

When the Thaksin Shinawatra government took office 18 months ago, drugs were
quite properly at the top of the agenda. The prime minister openly admitted
that the twin problems of drug trafficking and drug abuse among our youth
posed a profound threat to the security of the nation. Past governments
identified drugs as the most serious danger to the stability of the country.
Mr Thaksin set out to re-vitalise and re-organise the nation's resources to
fight this menace.

Like an exploding star, the government focused strong and brief light on the
necessity to fight drug abuse and the evil men and women who smuggle and
sell drugs. And like an exploding star, everything then went black. Mr
Thaksin and senior officers went to Chiang Mai, held meetings, and promised
a serious, coordinated effort. There were a few months of promising policy
discussion. Then nothing _ in some cases such as foreign policy, less than
nothing.

Laos appears to have retreated into denial on its drug problems. Big-time
Burmese and Chinese traffickers have shifted parts of their production and
smuggling rings to Laos. Thai defence measures, especially along the
northern border, have convinced the makers of methamphetamines and heroin to
adjust. Amazingly, although this shift in both production and smuggling
routes was well publicised by Thai and United Nations drug officers, Laos
has taken few known steps.

Last weekend, Defence Minister Douangchay Phichit was in Bangkok. His host
was his Thai counterpart, Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh. Gen Chavalit is
responsible for foreign problems and the drugs fight. He smiled as his Lao
guest denied there is any drug production in his country. This is risky
behaviour. Laos, by its own statement, is taking no action against drug
production. This gives traffickers an enormous head start on moving drugs to
markets in, or through Thailand. Last week, police seized 59.3kg of heroin,
smuggled from Laos.

The Burmese deceptions are well known. Burma held its own anti-drug event
last week, and claimed it burned illicit drugs worth $1 billion. Into the
fire went 40 million methamphetamine tablets, a spit in the ocean of the
drug which has flooded Thailand. A steam roller crushed lines of bottles of
cough syrup with codeine, otherwise known as over-the-counter medicine. One
hopes the harmful fiction spread by Burma at this UN-sponsored event can be
separated by discerning people from the real but infinitesimal achievements
of a handful of dedicated drug officers in Burma. The regime's self-serving
and deceitful propaganda would be laughable if it were not so harmful.

Despite the undoubted trafficking-friendly defects of our neighbours, the
Thaksin government has no notable achievements and little of which to be
proud. The promises to treat drug abuse as a problem instead of a crime has
failed to materialise. Indeed, Princess Ubolratana and her campaign to bring
communities and their leaders into the fight is the only recent bright spark
in the dull drugs campaign.

It is remarkable that the government has wasted the support of the nation on
this vital matter. The country recognises the huge threat to the future.
Drug traffickers continue to corrupt the country at a high level. Drug abuse
continues to waste the future for young people.