War on drugs should be further intensified

There is no doubt that the government has raided many laboratories producing shabu. But now the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) has come out with a report that the Filipinos are still one of the biggest shabu consumers in the world. The problem with the use of drugs is that it is a crime that always leads to other crimes. The person that has been hooked on drugs can no longer function normally. He cannot hold on to his job and he needs money to sustain his vice. So he is forced to do things – get his officemates and friends to also get hooked on drugs or steal money to sustain his vice. Eventually the use of drugs alienates him from his officemates, friends and family. He ends up being an outcast of society.

The UNODC also issued a strong warning on the use of tobacco. There are 1.3 billion tobacco smokers in the world. And the worst thing they do is endanger the lives of non-smokers. Inhaling the smoke that smokers exhale is even worst than inhaling smoke direct from cigarette. There is now a worldwide trend to eliminate smoking from the world. North Korea recently joined that association. But in the Philippines, we still have to see a real government or private effort to reduce the use of tobacco on a national basis. The very first major step is to prohibit the advertisements of cigarettes and tobacco. As it is now, all they do is add "Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous To Your Health." This is true. So smoking should not be allowed at all.

There have been some efforts to control smoking in public places. But what should be outlawed is smoking itself. Without doubt, we would be a much healthier nation if we ban smoking altogether. Three and a half million smokers die every year. That is 9,000 persons per day. One of today’s problems is air pollution. Cigarette smoking is the voluntary use of polluted smoke. The smokers know that it is not good for their health. But they are willing to sacrifice their health and risk death for their vice. This means that they value smoking even more than their health and families.

There is no doubt the time will come when we will have a tobacco-free world. Our job is to help bring that world to reality as soon as possible. It is one way we can show how we care for the future not only of our own children but the whole world. Begin with your own family, then try to convince your officemates and friends to forsake a vice that could prove to be their undoing. We only live once. Let’s take the best care of that only life.

Sometime ago, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists suggested that smoking be classified along with tuberculosis, small pox and syphilis as one of the "notifiable diseases". We wonder what happened to that move.