Justice minister suggests using Article 44 to decriminalise ‘yaba’
JUSTICE MINISTER General Paiboon Koomchaya is willing to propose that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha invoke Article 44 of the interim charter to downgrade the amphetamine drug known as “yaba” to a narcotics category two drug, provided that the Public He
Public Health permanent secretary Dr Sopon Mekthon said he was ready to respond accordingly if the government revised its policy to regulate the drug. He said doctors could not prescribe ‘yaba’ for medical treatment while it remained a category one drug. Category two drugs can be used legally with a doctor’s prescription. Downgrading the category of the drug could address addiction issues, officials have said, because the current designation as a category one drug carries severe penalties that can deter users from seeking treatment.
Sopon said the ministry planned to implement three measures to support a new policy, including amending the law to encourage addicts to undergo rehabilitation, improving screening and rehabilitation methods for drug users, and increasing the number of centres at the tambon level where addicts could seek help.
The last point about service centres is based on a model of the Portuguese system.
Paiboon and Sopon spoke at a meeting yesterday focused on yaba use and legal innovations to regulate the drug at a Bangkok hotel yesterday.
Another proposal presented to the Public Health Ministry was to encourage the use of non-narcotic drugs such as modafinil or armodafinil, which are stimulants which could be produced by the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation.
The drugs cost only US$1 (Bt34) per tablet compared to Bt200 for yaba on the illegal market.
A medical study suggested that if yaba usage is legalised, it should be taken less three times a week.
“If yaba remains a category one drug, we can’t change anything,” Paiboon said. “While suppression efforts would require Asean countries’ determination to destroy its manufacturing base in the Golden Triangle … The new compilation of drugs laws would also segregate drug abusers, dealers and those committing both offences [for proper penalties] … traffickers would get death sentences.”
“If society is confident in substance control and jail terms for drug traffickers, amphetamine prices could drop to Bt5 to Bt10 per pill, resulting in the destruction of the drug trade,” he said.
He said authorities were also studying the possibility of removing from the narcotics list kratom and marijuana, which could be classified as medicinal herbs.
The Narcotics Control Board says nearly 2 million Thais consume as many as 4 billion yaba tablets a year. A single manufacturing base in Myanmar can produce at least 1 billion tablets a year, half of which are smuggled into Thailand with about 20 per cent, or 100 million pills, seized by authorities.
