Pubdate: Tue, 04 Jan 2005 Source: Sunstar Davao (Philippines) Copyright: 2005 Sunstar Contact: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1991 Note: also listed for feedback Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?158 (Club Drugs) EDITORIAL: ALL-OUT WAR VS. DRUGS "It's a good thing Mayor Rody Duterte is not taking any chances and has declared all-out war on the illegal drugs trade in his city." THE all-out nationwide campaign against the illegal drugs trade may have been given a huge boost with the New Year's Eve raid on a warehouse cum laboratory in Barangay Dumoy, this city, and the killing of six foreign-looking nationals in the alleged shootout triggered by the raid. But the government and its anti-narcotics agents should not rest on their laurels. It may be recalled that since 1997 thirty-two such warehouses/laboratories producing the illegal drug shabu valued at billions of pesos have been discovered and dismantled in various places of the country. What has been the common denominator in all those raids is the fact that all were operated by aliens seemingly experts in the production of the prohibited drug with the connivance of homegrown accomplices as co-financiers and distributors. This raises some questions: (1) how many more of these labs are operating clandestinely in the country? (2) do they belong to one huge network, or are they independent of each other? (3) is the whole thing purely a massive business venture using the Philippines as a staging area for international trading in illegal drugs, or (4) is there a foreign country from which these suspects and their raw materials come from behind such operations with the end in view of converting us into a nation of (a) hopeless drug addicts and, (b) eventually subverting its democratic system? Who knows? It's a good thing Mayor Rody Duterte is not taking any chances and has declared all-out war on the illegal drugs trade in his city. Other local government units (LGUs) ought to do the same and join in a nationwide campaign, which has a long way to go before the manufacture and trade in illegal drugs can be eradicated completely, if at all. If Mayor Duterte were to have his way, the drive against this modern day menace to society will be a no-holds-barred, knock-them-down and drag-them-out proposition. As he said, such criminals do not deserve even one gram of mercy. - ---