Pubdate: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 Source: Visayan Daily Star (Philippines) Copyright: 2005 Visayan Daily Star Contact: http://www.visayandailystar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1688 Author: Carla Gomez Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) 137 DRUG SUSPECTS FALL IN NEG. OCC. It's 137 less drug personalities for Negros Occidental. The police said yesterday that 137 or 92 percent of the 153 drug personalities targeted in Negros Occidental, have been arrested in 11 months. In the same period, 185 of 201 drug-affected barangays in Negros Occidental were cleared, the police claimed. The amount of drugs confiscated by the Negros Occidental police in the province, aside from Bacolod City, meanwhile, dropped to P323,100 this year, from P762, 758 in 2004, police records show. Police Supt. Pedro Merced director of the Bacolod City Police Office, said the number of drug-affected barangays in Bacolod City also dropped from 24 to only four this year. Merced also reported that the supply of shabu is becoming more scarce, and majority of the big time drug pushers have been arrested and are now locked up in jail. "There is an indication that drug users are shifting from shabu to marijuana, while some resort to valium tablets," Merced added. He also said that adulterated shabu is now being sold by peddlers. Shabu still remains the number one drug of choice, despite the scarcity of supply, PDEA regional chief Rolen Balquin said in his report. The ports of San Carlos, Bacolod and Dumaguete have been identified by the PDEA among the entry points of prohibited drugs in Negros Occidental and Oriental Negros. Balquin said no drug group has been monitored after the arrest of Jose Kim Cuadra, alleged leader of the Cuadra group, although there is still rampant selling of prohibited drugs by individuals. PDEA investigations show that prices of shabu now range from P3,500 to P4,000 per gram. Merced said that in Bacolod shabu is being sold at a maximum of P6,000 per gram. The police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force, in its study, noted that the problem of illegal drugs is not so much the reduction of supply, but the reduction of demand for it. The Negros Occidental and Bacolod City police offices as well as the PDEA, are now intensifying their anti-drug campaign in schools. Police records show that each member of the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental has earmarked P25,000 to help the information drive and drug awareness program of Senior Supt. Charles Calima, in the schools of the province. - ---