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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