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Ministry of Public Health carried out the 39th Destruction of Confiscated Narcotics, in custody of the Royal Thai Government,



 totaling 5,844 kilograms, worth more than 7,400 million Baht, on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. It has been revealed that, this year, there are over 50,000 drug addicts who have entered rehabilitation programs, with Metamphetatmine being the Number One cause of the abuse.

          The Ministry of Public Health, in cooperation with various concerned agencies, carried out the destruction of confiscated narcotics, in custody of the Royal Thai Government, on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, totaling 5,844 kilograms, worth 7,419 million Baht. The Ministry also revealed that, this year 2011, there are over 50,000 drug addicts who have entered rehabilitation programs. There is also a great concern that the number of young people between the age of 7 and 17 years who used addictive substances has increased 129 times over the last 6 years.
                Today (June 24, 2011), Mr.Jurin Laksanawisit, Minister of Public Health, accompanied by Dr.Tanongsan Sutatam, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health, and Dr.Pipat Yingseree, Secretary General of the Food and Drug Administration, presides over the Destruction of Confiscated Narcotics, in custody of the Royal Thai Government, on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, June 26, 2011. This is the 39th destruction of the seized narcotics and is organized by the cooperation between the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Public Health and various concerned governmental and private agencies, such as, the Royal Thai Police, the Royal Thai Army, the Royal Thai Navy, the Royal Thai Air Force, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and the Bang Pa-in Industrial Estate.
The total amount of the destroyed confiscated narcotics on this occasion was5,844 kilograms, worth 7,419 million Baht.   Of these, 2,426.0464897 kilograms and 130 milliliters came from the stock held by the Ministry of Public Health which was confiscated from a total of 3,833 cases. The stock comprised 8 categories of illicit substances, namely, (1) Methamphetamine or “yaabaa”, totaling 22 million tablets, weighing over 1,997 kilograms, worth approximately 6,657,569,100 Baht; (2) Heroine, weighing over 248 kilograms, worth approximately 620,281,150 Baht; (3) Crystal Methamphetamine or “Ice” of over 23 kilograms, worth approximately 64,890,512 Baht; (4) Ecstasy about 34,171 pills, weighing over 8 kilograms, worth approximately 34,171,000 Baht; (5) Cocaine of over 7 kilograms, worth approximately 21,363,840 Baht; (6) Opium of over 72 kilograms, worth approximately 1,823,692 Baht; (7) Codeine of 43.168 liters, weighing over 56 kilograms, worth approximately 107,920 Baht; and (8) Marijuana from the stock of confiscated drugs and illicit substances held by Narcotics Suppression Bureau, weighing 3,418.7 kilograms, worth over 17 million Baht. There were also 12 kilograms of confiscated materials, which were not classified as being narcotics were included in the destruction, included Ketamine, Pseudoephedrine, Diazepam and Phentermine.     
 
The procedure used to destroy the confiscated illicit drugs on this occasion is called Pyrolytic Incineration, which effectively burns the drugs at a temperature of more than 850 degree Celsius, turning every molecule of all addictive drugs and substances into carbon ashes very quickly and rendering them completely unusable without creating any kind of air or environmental pollution.
According to the latest report regarding abusers and addicts, the total number of those who entered rehabilitation programs in all 3 systems between October 1, 2010 and April 4, 2011 was 54,715. The numbers of participants for the three systems of rehabilitation were 14,780 having entered the programs voluntarily, 33,898 having been forced to undergo them and 6,037 who were rehabilitated while under the punishment term. 59% of those undergoing rehabilitation programs were abusers, 38% addicts and 3% serious addicts. 91% were men, the remainders were women. The narcotic drugs most often used by abusers and addicts were Methamphetamines or Yaabaa (83%), usually by inhalation. The type of occupation most often used narcotic drugs was hired labor (44%), followed by unemployed (23%), agriculturist (11%), students (10%) and government officials (0.68%).   
From the analysis of those drug abusers who entered the rehabilitation programs, one third was a young person between 18 and 24 years of age – being the biggest group, followed by the age group of 25-29 years (20%). The group which was of most concern and showed a distinct trend of a continuous increase in the number of drug abusers was between 7 and 17 years. In 2011, 6,701 of the latter age group have entered rehabilitation program, accounting for 12% of all those who underwent rehabilitation. This was an increase of 129 times in comparison to the number of 52 who entered the programs in 2006 (0.09% of all those who underwent rehabilitation). The age group that showed a trend of a decline was 25 – 39 years. 
Thanyarak Institute, Ministry of Public Health, has opened a 24 hour hotline number “1165”, to give advice regarding drug abuse and addict to people.
In 2010, the total number of abusers of all categories of drugs and illicit substances, who entered rehabilitation programs, was 164,125; 91% of them were men and 9% women. 62% of them were drug abusers, 36% addicts and 3% being serious addicts.    The categories of drugs and illicit substances that those who underwent rehabilitation programme were addicted to were metamphetamine (83%), marijuana (6%) and inhalant chemicals (4%). Over the period of almost 6 years, between 2006 and 2011, there were a total of 627,562 cases of abusers and addicts who entered various rehabilitation programs.
 
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