Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines) Copyright: 2005 Philippine Daily Inquirer Contact: http://www.inquirer.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1073 Author: Christian Esguerra Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Cited: Philippine National Police http://www.pnp.gov.ph Cited: Philippine Dangerous Drugs Board http://www.ddb-ph.com COPS SOUND ALARM: 'MARY JANE' IS BACK! YOU'RE not hallucinating: "Mary Jane" is back. Marijuana, a popular drug during the turbulent '60s and '70s, is slowly taking over "shabu" ["crack"] as the poor man's drug of choice in the country, a top Philippine National Police official said yesterday. Most of the country's 3.4 million drug users now prefer marijuana because it's cheaper, according to Deputy Director General Ricardo de Leon, the PNP's anti-drug czar. Marijuana costs P200 per gram while shabu costs P6,000 per gram, the official said in a press conference. "This is why we're intensifying our campaign to uproot marijuana plantations nationwide." On Thursday, the government uprooted some 297,000 fully grown marijuana worth P55 million in Ilocos, he added. The price of shabu, previously the top choice of local drug users, skyrocketed after the government launched a crackdown against illegal drug syndicates in June 2003. Some 14 shabu laboratories and warehouses had been dismantled nationwide. Last month, three facilities were shut down in Davao City. Although 19,000 pushers were arrested last year, De Leon admitted there were now more drug users nationwide. "As the population grows, demand also increases," he told reporters. The latest count of drug users set to be released by the Dangerous Drugs Board this year would show just that, he said. Users are aged between 22 and 29 and there was one female for every 12 drug dependents, De Leon said. Users were shifting from shabu to marijuana, thinking this was the lesser evil. "Shabu has a very strong and long-term effect," explained Rodolfo Caisip, deputy director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. "It will destroy your brain and, eventually, it will kill you." In contrast, marijuana is a "hallucinogen" that merely allows a user to "float," the official said. "Its effect is mild compared with shabu." Authorities are also faced with the problem of where to send drug users for rehabilitation. It has now become impossible to fit 3.4 million users in 66 government and private rehabilitation centers nationwide, according to De Leon. These facilities can accommodate only 8,000 drug users for a regular six-month program at any given time, he explained. The government hopes to solve this problem by forfeiting assets of convicted drug lords and converting them into rehabilitation centers. "We're trying to follow the United States model wherein assets of drug convicts are seized by the government at least one month after conviction," he added. De Leon's predecessor, PNP Director General Edgar Aglipay, had shown the way by initiating the forfeiture of a mansion that authorities raided a year ago in Tanza, Cavite. The mansion is now a rehab center. Efforts like this would ostensibly help the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the main government agency working against illegal drugs, rid the country of banned substances by 2010. De Leon said the goal could be attained on "certain conditions." "We really have to put our resources together," he said. "We will be needing the help of all government agencies, including the community." De Leon said authorities were now educating families in dealing with relatives who had been treated in rehabilitation centers. Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils were key in this program, he said. - ---