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Ministry of Public Health carried out the 41st Destruction of Confiscated Narcotics Confiscated Narcotics



, in custody of the Royal Thai Government, totaling more than 4,000 Kilograms, worth more than 6,900 million Baht.

        The Ministry of Public Health carried out the 41st Destruction of Confiscated Narcotics, in accordance with the Operation Plan of the National Agenda of engaging the Strength of the Land in defeating the threat of narcotics. The total amount of 12 categories of illicit substances destroyed was more than 4,000 kilograms, worth over 6,900 million Baht. They came from the stock held by the Ministry of Public Health which was confiscated from 1,033 criminal cases, with 21 million tablets of Metaphetamines or “yabaa” accounting for most of the substances being destroyed. The Ministry also revealed that, over the last 9 months, there were total of 300,000 abusers and addicts, out of the target of 400,000 cases, who entered various rehabilitation programs; 81% of them were addicted to Metamphetamines, with 1 in 2 being young people aged between 7 and 24 years.
         Today (June 29, 2012) Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister, accompanied by Mr.Wittaya Buranasiri, Minister of Public Health, Dr.Paijit Varachit, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health, and Dr.Pipat Yingseri, Secretary General of the Food and Drug Administration, presides over the 41st  Destruction of Confiscated Narcotics, in custody of the Royal Thai Government,at the Utility and Environment Management Center, Bang Pa-in Industrial Estate, Bang Pa-in, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province. This event has been witnessed by members of the diplomatic corps, executives of various concerned governmental agencies and members of mass media.
                The total amount of the central stock of illicit drugs destroyed on this occasion wasover 2,755 kilograms, worth 6,978,188,353.85 Baht.   These were confiscated from a total of 1,023 criminal cases. The stock comprised 12 categories of illicit substances, namely, (1) Metaphetamines or “yaabaa”, weighing over 1936.40 kilograms or approximately 21 million tablets, worth 6,454 million Baht; (2) Methamphetamine or “Ice” weighing 147.92 kilograms, worth approximately 443.78 million Baht; (3) Heroine, weighing 58.23 kilograms, worth approximately 41.59 million Baht; (4) MDMA + MDA weighing 6.2 kilograms, worth approximately 24.89 million Baht; (5) Cocaine of 3.98 kilograms, worth approximately 11.9 million Baht; (6) Liquid Codeine weighing 592.21 kilograms, worth approximately 1.1 million Baht; (7)
 
 
Opium of 5.12 kilograms, worth approximately 136,598.67 Baht;(8) Cannabis weighing 0.1 kilograms, worth approximately 1,070 Baht; (9) Ketamine of 1.42 kilograms, worth approximately 568 Baht; (10) Morphine of 0.46 kilograms; (11) Nimetazepam of 0.03 kilograms; and (12) there were also other substances, such as phenylpropanolamine hydrochloride of 2.94 kilograms. The Anti-Narcotics Police Headquarters also brought confiscated cannabis, weighing over 1,324 kilograms from 10 criminal cases and worth more than 13 million Baht, that has been inspected and confirmed to be included in this destruction. The procedure used to destroy the confiscated illicit drugs on this occasion is called Pyrolytic  Incineration,  which  effectively  burns the  drugs at  a temperature  of  more  than 850 degree Celsius, turning every molecule of all addictive drugs and substances into carbon ashes very quickly and rendering them completely unusable without creating any kind of air or environmental pollution.
 
Mr.Wittaya Buranasiri , Minister of Public Health, said that the Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, designates the tackling of problems of drug abuse as a National Agenda and has established the Center for the Supervision of the Engagement of the Strength of the Land in defeating the threat of narcotics. The center aims to urgently promote the solving of the spread of narcotics problems and has set the target of treating abusers and addicts, who are regarded as patients, to a total of no less than 400,000 out of the overall expected number of drug abusers of 2 million people.
   
 
As for the amount of confiscated narcotics inspected and received by the Food and Drug Administration or FDA, this was found to have continuously increased. In 2010, 3,355.64 kilograms of illicit substances from 46,552 criminal cases were received by the FDA; in 2011, 4,480.49 kilograms from 49,628 cases. In 2012, the figure of confiscated narcotics inspected and accepted for storage by FDA up to March 2012 is over 688,179.59 kilograms from 67,235 criminal cases, showing a 35% increase from the year before. Most of these are Metamphetamines, accounted for 80% of the quantity remaining in the FDA’s storage. This rise is especially noted in the case of Metamphetamines with high levels of purity, known as Ice, which has significantly increased. At present, it is found that illegal trafficking of chemical precursors in the illicit manufacture of Metamphetamine, with Pseudoephedrine being an ingredient, is becoming a problem for the authority in controlling the transfer within the country and across borders.
FDA, therefore, exerts strict control over the export and import of the substances and coordinates with anti-narcotics units, such as, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, the Anti-Narcotics Police Headquarters, to stop the trafficking. 
            After this 41st Destruction of Confiscated Narcotics, there will be over 24 tons of illicit substances, in custody of the Royal Thai Government, that remain and are kept by FDA, worth more than 72,000 million Baht. If cases involving these confiscated materials are not brought to court or judgment is passed at the level of the court of first instance, FDA will then request permission from the Central Committee in carrying out their destruction. 
           Dr.Paijit Varachit, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health, said that, in term of the rehabilitation of drug addicts, there are 1,287 hospitals throughout the country under and outside the supervision of the ministry that provide such services to the patients. According to the latest report on the operations between October 1, 2011, and June 25, 2012, 352,503 abusers received the therapy; being 88% of the targeted population.  231,889 of these entered the programs voluntarily; 109,485 were forced to undergo the treatment and  11,129 were rehabilitated while under the punishment term.
           Besides these the number of community rehabilitation camps has been increased this year to achieve the level of one center or camp per district. This is proactive services that are offered to various communities, totaling 1,266 in number and exceeding the set target of 928 locations. The centers have provided training for 66,083 health volunteers to equip them with knowledge and expertise in the management of illicit drug abusers. This enables the health volunteers to monitor those who have undergone the therapy and returned to their villages and communities, so that they can continue their lives completely drug-free.
           From the analysis of those drug abusers who entered the rehabilitation programs, 1 in 2 of them were young persons aged between 7 and 24 years – this was the biggest group and they were in the school age. 92% of the abusers who underwent the therapy were male; 70% had not yet become addicted to the illicit drugs, 28% addicted and 2% severely addicted. The top three narcotic drugs most often used by abusers and addicts were Amphetamines or Yaabaa (81%); Cannabis (4%) and Kratom (3%). The type of occupation most often used narcotic drugs was hired hands that included laborers and factory workers (46%), followed by being unemployed (18%) and agriculturist (15%).
           The Ministry of Public Health has opened narcotic drugs hot line at 1165 with 12 lines in operation, to allow people with problems to access consultation services 24 hours a day. The hot line provides both instant consultation with counselors and the automatic message system. It is found that the service has yielded good results with 50-70 callers a day receiving one to one consultation and 100 callers a day obtaining information from the automatic system. Issues most enquired by these callers are details of the therapy, followed by the monitoring of addicts’ symptoms and the guidance on the initial problem solving. In 2011, there were 7,251 callers. Over the last 6 months of 2012, 30,000 people have made their calls to the hot line.
 
 **************************** June 29, 2012
 


   
   


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