Coordinate anti-drugs campaigns, PM to tell six ministries
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will today chair a meeting to get six ministries to join forces in systematically fighting against illegal drugs.
The six ministries are Interior, Justice, Defence, Health, Labour and Foreign.
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said yesterday that Yingluck had endorsed him to head an anti-drug committee. The PM has called a meeting today to discuss the seven-point action plan to curb the drug trade. As part of the plan, Thailand will send anti-drugs officials to go to Burma, from where it believes illegal drugs are smuggled into the country. Thai authorities will seek cooperation with their counterparts to suppress drug smuggling on the Thai-Burmese borders, Chalerm said.
The deputy PM also said Thai authorities believed that most of the illegal drugs were produced by the ethnic minority Wa. So to get this minority group to stop growing poppies and produce narcotics, Thai businessmen will be encouraged to rent plots of land and invest in other agriculture projects and then hire Wa people to work on the farms so that they stop growing poppies. Border checkpoints will be increased along the Thai-Burmese border to curb drug smuggling.
To solve over-crowding jail conditions and prevent drug convicts going back to drug trading after being released, prisoners will be encouraged to undergo occupational training in the final year of their jail terms, Chalerm said.