Showing 1 - 10 of 18
Review 5-pill drug limit
Oped, Editorial, Published on 15/02/2024
» In response to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's pledge to review a policy that lowers the punishment for ya ba users found to have no more than five methamphetamine pills, the Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) said it is considering reducing the limit to three.
The fight against drugs
Oped, Editorial, Published on 19/09/2023
» It should be good news that the Srettha government will make the fight against narcotics part of the national agenda. Announced on Sunday by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, the news has garnered mixed reactions, especially among human rights activists, which is understandable.
No sign of drug reform
News, Editorial, Published on 16/01/2019
» The Ministry of Defence has weighed in on drug trafficking but in the most familiar manner. Briefed by his boss, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, ministry spokesman Kongcheep Tantravanich repeated an official litany that is no longer impressive. In short, drug seizures are up, drug arrests continue to increase. As a reporter for this newspaper wrote, this combination of factors "will pave the way for more arrests".
Double-faced drugs policy
News, Editorial, Published on 20/11/2018
» The government has become somewhat schizophrenic about its policies on banned drugs. It has sent mixed signals about the path to legalising medical marijuana. Providing a programme leading to the needed reform of law on illicit drugs is even less clear. In just the past few weeks, senior officials and ministers have indicated, rather, that they expect to renew and redoubled the "war on drugs" policies that have failed so badly.
Myanmar's shirked duty
News, Editorial, Published on 08/10/2018
» Last Thursday, police arrested two men in Ayutthaya for possession of drugs. They were driving a pickup with 700 one-kilogramme bags of crystal methamphetamine, a so-called recreational drug without medical or social value.
Drug reform gets a push
News, Editorial, Published on 24/04/2018
» New plans for treatment of drug addicts and abusers are a welcome step on the way to badly needed drug reform. The steps announced last week by the chief of the prime ministers Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) may make it possible to begin rehabilitation instead of criminal treatment. As welcome as the new programme is, it is still only a tentative step towards what is needed. It is time for bold steps and a new outlook on the problem.
Lack of unity in drug sweep
News, Editorial, Published on 28/02/2018
» The government has launched yet another series of anti-drugs sweep aimed at taming the North. They are part of the decades-old campaign to wipe out trafficking in illicit drugs. Authorities came up with reports to the public that had a very tired look and feel. A one-month "massive" suppression campaign resulted in the arrests of 63 suspects, the seizure of many kilogrammes of drugs and the unsurprising discovery of some 241 million baht of "assets" -- cash, gold, cars and motorcycles, up-scale homes, land and condominiums.
Drug fight off the rails
News, Editorial, Published on 18/10/2017
» The government continues to press on with its failed war on drugs, when the country would be better served by a serious effort to reform this old programme. Last week, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board Sirinya Sitdhichai announced the agency was to assume yet another new power. He says he and ONCB enforcement agents can now hold parcel delivery firms responsible if they carry drugs.
Pursuing a lost war
News, Editorial, Published on 26/06/2017
» Monday's annual event in Ayutthaya marks a great setback in a campaign to bring sanity to the 46-year-old "global war on drugs" instigated by ex-US president Richard Nixon. Officials will stage their usual torching of tonnes of drugs seized in raids, highway searches, street-corner arrests and home invasions. But for the first time in years they will be working under orders to step up the suppression. The prime minister "expects to see better results", meaning more arrests in the so-called war that that was lost years ago.
Drug reform still pending
News, Editorial, Published on 10/05/2017
» A year and a month ago, the government promised radical reform of the anti-narcotics laws and the war on drugs. Since then, there has been no significant progress. Then-minister of justice Paiboon Koomchaya, who was leading reform efforts, has left the government. It seems an opportunity has been lost.