Pubdate: Thu, 02 Dec 2004
Source: People's Journal (Philippines)
Copyright: 2004 People's Journal
Contact: http://www.journal.com.ph/contactus.asp
Website: http://www.journal.com.ph/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3381
Author: Alfred Dalizon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MARIJUANA ECLIPSES SHABU

MORE and more drug users are shifting from shabu to marijuana.

The reason for this "change of  heart:" The scarcity and soaring price of 
shabu which, thanks to the government's crackdown on drug laboratories, now 
sells at P5,000 per gram, up from the previous P2,000.

As a result, agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the 
Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force of the Philippine National 
Police have been ordered to step up their drive against marijuana even as a 
congressman proposed the legalization of the drug last week. "The joint 
PDEA-PNP-AIDSOTF campaign against  shabu laboratories has resulted in the 
drastic reduction of the supply of shabu in the local market although it is 
our assessment that drug users are now turning to marijuana," said AID-SOTF 
commander Deputy Director General Ricardo F. de Leon.

De Leon made the statement after he, PDEA deputy director for operations, 
Assistant Secretary  Ro-dolfo Caisip and National Capital Region Police 
Office deputy director Chief Supt. Prospero Noble Jr. conferred with field 
officers of the PDEA, AID-SOTF and all NCRPO city and municipal 
anti-illegal drugs task forces at the PDEA headquarters in Quezon City.

"We have found out that shabu now fetches a minimum price of P5,000 a gram 
and most of the drugs being sold in the streets are adulterated and of poor 
quality. It's the reason why drug users are now resorting to marijuana," he 
said.

An estimated 87 percent of the country's drug users are believed hooked on 
shabu while 31.34 percent are marijuana users. The rest are either users of 
the designer drug Ecstasy and solvents like rugby.

But de Leon said that concerned authorities should address the problem on 
drug rehabilitation. He said that although there are an estimated P3.4 
million regular and occasional drug users nationwide, only 10,000 of them 
are currently housed in different government-run and private drug 
rehabilitation centers in the country. "The number of drug patients are not 
even one percent of the estimated drug users," he said.

De Leon said that his order for all AID-SOTF officers and men remains: "You 
apprehend for purposes of conviction."

"We discuss how can we increase, improve our conviction rate and this we 
can do through the policy of ensuring that all our arrests will be designed 
to make a conviction," he said.

PDEA chairman Undersecretary Anselmo S. Avenido Jr. said they will sponsor 
more PDEA seminars and trainings for members of the AID-SOTF starting this 
month.

He said that the idea is to make sure that all policemen involved in the 
campaign against illegal drugs are familiar with the provisions of Republic 
Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 to prevent losing 
cases they file in court due to technicalities.

De Leon said he has ordered the strict monitoring of all cases filed by his 
men and an investigation into reports pertaining to the involvement of some 
NCRPO policemen in the so-called "bangketa" operations where suspected drug 
personalities or even innocent people are arrested on trumped-up charges 
and then set free in exchange for huge amounts of cash and other property, 
including cars.

Based on feedback  from different quarters, PDEA and the AID-SOTF have 
waged a successful war on illegal drug operations in the country over the 
past two years. More than P22 billion worth of shabu, its precursors  and 
marijuana were destroyed during the period which also resulted in the 
arrest of more than 32,000 drug personalities.

Last year, government agents stormed 80 marijuana plantations across the 
country and uprooted P5.29 million worth of marijuana plants and seedlings.

So far this year, authorities have raided 43 much bigger marijuana 
plantations and destroyed P274 million worth of fully-grown marijuana 
plants and seedlings.

The plantations were located in Cordillera, Ilocos-Pangasinan Region, 
Cagayan Valley, Central Visayas and parts of Mindanao.

The stepped-up campaign against marijuana came on the heels of proposals 
from some congressmen to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal 
purposes. However, both Avenido and Caisip said there is a need to conduct 
a thorough study on the medicinal value of marijuana before considering its 
legalization since there is a very big possibility  that drug addicts could 
take advantage of any change in the law banning the planting and use of 
cannabis.

Sidebar: The most potent cannabinoid is THC. Because of its hydroxyl (OH) 
groups, THC is technically an alcohol. It lacks nitrogen and is not an 
alkaloid. It is now known that THC binds to specific receptors in the brain 
where a natural compound called anandamide normally attaches. This brain 
interaction is undoubtedly responsible for marijuana's intoxicating 
properties. Statistics have shown that marijuana is less harmful than its 
legal, more widespread counterparts, ethyl alcohol and tobacco.
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