New Justice Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana shied away from recommendations by his predecessor Gen Paiboon Koomchaya to de-criminalise amphetamines, marijuana and krathom. (File photo by Thanarak Khunton)

Thailand should adopt an integrated approach to tackle the problems of drug abuse and addiction, Justice Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana says.

Strategies to solve the problems need to be adjusted, Mr Suwaphan said, adding legal measures alone would not solve the drug scourge.

He was speaking at a meeting in Bangkok Thursday which he chaired to discuss social measures to help curb the impacts of drug abuse and addiction on communities.

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Narcotics suppression police question Francis Mukwamba, a Zambian passport holder whose real nationality is uncertain, at a hotel room in Sukhumvit area of Bangkok on Dec 26. (Photo taken from the Narcotics Suppression Bureau Facebook page)

Two foreign nationals were arrested after 4kg of cocaine were found in their bags when they arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport from Africa and a third, their alleged contact, was later apprehended at a city hotel.

Pol Maj Gen Sommai Kongwisaisuk, acting commissioner of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, said Johnny Halop Sajulga, a Filipino, and a Vietnamese woman, Chao Thi Thuong, 37, arrived from Ethiopia on Flight ET 628 on Dec 26.

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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 Health Ministry has a proper system to combat drug abuse.

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.

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Thailand is on the wrong track in its efforts to address drug problems and it is time to treat drug abuse as a health issue rather than a crime, says Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya.

Speaking at the "Thailand's Drug Policy Revisited" forum held by the Thailand Institute of Justice, Gen Paiboon said the high number of drug offenders and widespread drug abuse in communities shows the drug policy is failing.

"It has been wrong all these years. If not, why do 70% of drug offenders remain in prison? Why does the problem persist despite thousands of deaths? And why do people still complain about drugs in their community? They're telling us there's something wrong," he said.

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BANGKOK In a backroom heavy with sawdust, Mr Akkarin Puri, 33, carefully examines the veneer of a half-finished guitar.

There was a time when the craftsman's attention was more focused on inhaling the vapours from a pill of yaba - a methamphetamine - heated over a flame.

In fact, by the age of 21, his drug habit had landed him in juvenile detention at least six times and a military lock-up for 18 months.

There, he tried to rob a fellow addict to fund his next fix and landed himself in jail for another eight years. It was while doing time in a particularly notorious prison, in Pathum Thani province next to Bangkok, that he saw up close one of the gravest consequences of the kingdom's long-running "war on drugs".

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BANGKOK - Somsak Sreesomsong was 18 when he was jailed for selling illegal drugs. Now, turning 30, he is not yet half way through his 33-year sentence at Bangkok's high-security Klong Prem prison.

Somsak was "just a kid, not a big-time dealer," his older brother Panit told Reuters after a visit to the jail. "We're also serving time, waiting for him to get out so he can help the family."

More than a decade after Thailand declared a "war on drugs," the country is admitting defeat. As the prison population soars, Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya told Reuters he was looking at changes to the country's draconian drug laws.

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Move targets marijuana use amid prison population boom; some drugs may be reclassified for controlled use

Marijuana or methamphetamine users in Thailand may get rehabilitation rather than jail under broad changes to the country's narcotics policy. The kingdom is reviewing its zero-tolerance approach, which has caused its prison population to balloon without actually controlling the proliferation of illicit drugs.

Draft legal changes, recently approved by the Cabinet and expected to be tabled in Parliament, would emphasise rehabilitation over jail terms for drug users and mandate more proportional sentences. They will be put in place before the term of the current military government expires, Justice Minister Paiboon Kumchaya said this week.

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Thai experts have rightly commented on the value of treatment and health-centred approaches.

While it may always be best to be prudent when commenting on the domestic affairs of another country, there are times when issues become far too important to stand silently by and politely observe such custom - the current debate on laws governing methamphetamine use in Thailand is one of those occasions.

Drug policy is a dynamic and complex arena and for too long countries have overly focused on investments in law enforcement agencies to address drug use. Whilst no one denies the importance and legitimacy of law enforcement agencies, its lead role in the drug area is an approach that does little to help everyday people and families. Instead, it increases the likelihood of families becoming collateral damage in an ever harmful war on drugs. Nearly all countries agree that arresting and imprisoning people who use drugs has terrible consequences yet when discussion turns to evidence based reform there is little progress and movement towards a health based response and leadership on the issue.

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Paiboon Ready to Transfer Drug Rehab Function to Public Health Ministry

JUSTICE Minister Paiboon Koomchaya is ready to transfer drug rehabilitation function completely to the Public Health Ministry.

Authorities would proceed with the next step in the decriminalisation of methamphetamine, when the system is strong he said yesterday after a meeting of agencies including the National Command Centre for Drugs and the Public Health Ministry to discuss the findings of the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs.

The assembly cited world currents shifting from the war on drugs to thinking of how to live with drugs.

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Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya's Readiness to Declassify Yaba Signals a Sounder Strategy

If national governments have learned nothing from the futility of waging a "war on drugs", in some countries at least, common sense seems to be finally seeping in.

With several American states having decriminalised possession of marijuana and many more pondering the move, and with positive results emerging from European nations that have adopted softer stances on "street drugs", Thailand is now seeing light at the end of its long, dark yaba tunnel.

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Has Thailand's tough policy on narcotic drugs created a monster out of methamphetamines resulting in the poor being punished with the heaviest sentences, and prison overcrowding?

An article published on the online outlet Thai Publica in July last year by Mutita Chuachang about the need to rethink the country's policy on ya ba has resurfaced recently. The content is relevant to the Justice Ministry's controversial proposal to remove crystal meth from the illicit dangerous drug list and shift the drug policy away from heavy suppression.

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The Proposal Would Not Decriminalise or Legalise Meth.

Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya caused a major uproar with a statement out of the blue about the country's leading drug problem. The statement in question featured a proposal he presented at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on drugs, known as UNGASS, in New York to demote methamphetamines from Category 1, the official designation of the most harmful and banned drugs, to the far more tolerant category.

Like other controversial proposals in this country, this one on amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) has drawn mixed reactions. Some believe it will make the drug situation far worse, but others think the opposite.

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The Justice Ministry's proposal to remove methamphetamines, or ya ba, from the illicit dangerous drug list is a bold attempt to tackle chronic drug problems in society. The move, as revealed last week by Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya, involves proposing an amended version of the narcotics law which would in effect destigmatise both drug users and small-time sellers to allow them reclaim their lives. It has attracted a mixed response.

The bill, however, states punishments remains unchanged for drug dealers and those in possession of 15 methamphetamine pills or more.

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In less than two weeks a rare United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on global drug policy takes place in New York. Among the issues to be debated and discussed many resonate in Southeast Asia, including the impact of drug production, trafficking and use on vulnerable countries, communities and people.

Importantly, preparatory negotiations over the past year have created space for countries and policy leaders to reflect on the traditional "war on drugs" approach, but also prominently featured a debate on the need for justice reform and improved access to health services.

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The United Nations is aiming to set a new macro policy on recreational drugs worldwide, starting today. It has taken almost a generation even to get to this point, which is the token beginning of a UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs. There are strong feelings emerging that the UN itself might even take a stand leaning towards legalisation of such drugs. A kickoff meeting this evening in New York will hear testimony, mostly from the pro-enforcement side.

This is, essentially, Thailand's time to stand up for this country's policies on illegal drugs - or to call for changes. It is certain that after today's "interactive panel discussions" on the subject that a handful of Latin American countries and most of the 279 NGOs registered to attend will be lobbying hard on the legalisation side. Thailand and Thais are not prepared to go that far. Yet changes must be made.

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As I have written before, human rights watchdogs estimate that 100,000 Mexicans have been killed in the past 10 years at the hands of drug cartels during the so-called war on drugs.

That is an average of 10,000 people killed per year.

On Saturday, the mayor of a town only 90 kilometres from the capital Mexico City was murdered less than one day after taking office ("Mexico mayor slain a day after taking office", AFP, January 3).

The town, Temixco, is reportedly plagued by organised crime and rampant drug trafficking.

Are there any "advanced countries" near Mexico that can help out?

If not, would someone please tell Vladimir Putin about this?

Guy Baker

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Regardless of What Our Self-Serving Leaders Say, the So-Called Wars on Drugs Have Been a Disaster

Laws to deal with drugs offences drew international attention in recent weeks as rights groups, governments and family members called on President Joko Widodo to pardon a group of drug traffickers sentenced to death in Indonesia.

But at the centre of debate was not Indonesia's drug problem, as Joko claimed. Instead, much of the attention focused on Indonesia's domestic politics, where capital punishment has become a tool used by politicians to shore up their power.

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People Wrongly Jailed for Possessing Small Amount of Drugs, Academics Say

IT IS HIGH TIME Thailand amends its drug laws so as to ease prison crowding and stop putting so many undeserving people behind bars, a recent seminar was told.

Assoc Prof Sungsidh Piriyarangsan, dean of Rangsit University's College of Social Innovation, believes that more than 90 per cent of drug convicts should not be in jail.

Speaking at the seminar held by his college, Sungsidh said a large number of drug offenders were sent to prison only because Thai laws made it possible for people caught with a very small amount of drugs to get a trafficking conviction.

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Writing as a retired police detective, I heartily concur with your analysis of the drug war/drug prohibition. The smugglers ship a little extra toward their markets, knowing the authorities will confiscate maybe 20%. They also know when their mules are caught, they are easily replaced by men and women desperate for money. You must know that criminals love drug prohibition, since it guarantees them millions and billions in profits. If Thailand and other Asian countries want to strike fear and dread in the hearts of drug smugglers, join the growing number of voices across the planet that call to legalise/ regulate all drugs. The Mexican drug cartels are already vocal about how cannabis legalisation in Colorado is hurting their profits.

HOWARD

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A couple of major developments have taken place against the backdrop of the battle against drugs. The two cases seem to illustrate the two extremes of this long fight. In Thailand, suit-clad officials from four countries agreed politely to set up an information-sharing headquarters. No one is in charge. The specific goals are not just unstated, but appear not to exist. In Indonesia, at the other end of the pendulum, prison authorities yesterday brought six convicted drug dealers - five of them foreigners - to the killing stakes for execution by firing squad.

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