When we hear of people arrested for drugs, they are usually the users. The truth is that these are the victims of the pushers, the dealers and the producers of illegal drugs. The drug problem has reached an alarming proportion.
We are glad that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has decided to be in the forefront of the government‚s war against the importation, manufacture, distribution and the peddling of illegal drugs. Obviously, she knows who she will have to cope with their sponsors and protectors in the government, especially the men in uniform.
The government campaign against drugs will not take off until the PDEA and the PNP are first purged of undesirable elements and we mean members of these two groups who are not only in the payroll of drug lords but also drug users. If this cannot be done, the coming campaign will be a total flop.
President Macapagal-Arroyo knows the problem.
According to the PDEA, there are 3.4 million drug users in the country. Many believe there are much more than that.
Cebu City Representative Antonio Cuenco has been quoted as saying that based on data from informants of government intelligence agencies; the figure is approximately 9 million!
This is one of the first things that the present campaign against drugs should establish. What is the correct estimate of drug users in the Philippines?
According to United Nations data, Thailand is the world’s largest user of methamphetamines. The Philippines is next.
Last February 1, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched a three-month campaign against drugs.
More than 42,000 suspects were arrested. Out of these were 1,765 major dealers and 15,244 minor dealers. The good thing was that more than 280,000 pushers and addicts surrendered and were sent to rehabilitation camps. The bad side was that 2,274 suspected pushers and dealers were reportedly slain although the government admits to only 42 casualties.
We hope that we will not have a single casualty in the Philippines.
But we also hope that our war against drugs will be as successful as Thailand’s. What we would most like to see are drug addicts volunteering to undergo rehabilitation. You can’t help people who don’t want to help themselves.
The first step towards the solution of a drug problem as extensive as the one we have is without question political will. We congratulate President Macapagal-Arroyo for her firm determination first to alleviate and later totally exterminate the practice of using drugs in this country.
Everyone has a part to play. Drug addicts must be exposed even if they are members of one’s family. And they must be exposed for their own good and salvation. Drug addicts are living dead. The only good they can really do is rid themselves of their addiction.