800 kg of illegal drugs destroyed in Ayutthaya

In the second incineration of illegal substances this year, officials brought seized drugs weighing 821.21 kilograms in total, which were in relation to 133,221 police cases. They were incinerated at over 850 degrees Celsius, which they said caused no air pollution. They included 633.98 kilograms (seven million tablets) of methamphetamines worth about Bt2.1 billion, 124.54 kilograms of heroin valued at Bt311 million, 41.2 kilograms of opium worth Bt1 million, 5.13 kilograms of cocaine worth Bt15 million, 4.64 kilograms of marijuana and 12,030 ecstasy pills.

Saying the government was serious about drug suppression, which is one of the government's top national agendas, the prime minister said it was time to get cooperation from all sides to tackle the problem and vowed to reduce it dramatically within one year. Yingluck also said that the government would initially focus on treating drug addicts, because the supply of these drugs would continue so long as there was a demand. After demand was lowered, authorities would seriously crack down on dealers.

Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri said he had instructed drug rehabilitation and addiction treatment centres to work efficiently and follow up with patients after recovery. Dr Paijit Varachit, permanent secretary for public health, said over 93,400 drug addicts - about 83 per cent of them methamphetamine addicts - received treatment from October 1, 2010 to July 31, 2011. Of all the addicts receiving treatment, one-third were young people aged 18-24 years, he said. The number of addicts aged 7-17, which currently is at 11,782 persons, also tended to rise.

 In related news, Police Region 5 and Chiang Rai's Mae Sai police station officers early yesterday morning clashed with and killed an armed man in his 30s who was transporting 78,000 ya ba tablets by motorcycle in Daeng Piyaporn.