Drugs

MANILA, Philippines – The Dangerous Drugs Board, in an effort to further strengthen the fight against substance abuse in the Philippines, is calling for the conduct of random drug tests for government employees.

MANILA, Philippines – About 1.7 million Filipinos are addicted to shabu, marijuana, and other dangerous drugs, and 1,189 of them are undergoing treatment in rehabilitation centers, according to the Dangerous Drugs Board.

MANILA, Philippines — The youth plays an important part in helping stop the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country, the Dangerous Drugs Board said on Tuesday.

THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) expects to enhance its operational capability with the implementation of a knowledge transfer project endorsed by the Supreme Prosecutors Office of Korea. PDEA has been chosen as the beneficiary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-Republic of Korea Knowledge Transfer on Narcotics Crime project.

CEBU, Philippines – There are currently 73,432 pending drug cases nationwide, according to Dangerous Drugs Board Undersecretary Paul Clarence Oaminal.

With more than 1,000 people becoming infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Asia each day, the United Nations Joint Program on HIV-Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (UNAIDS) has urged governments to decriminalize consensual adult sexual behavior and drug use.

THE claim of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) that the Philippines ranks fifth among the circle of countries that either produce or use cocaine, crack, heroin and other illegal drugs apart from shabu is baseless, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

The United Nation’s Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) issued a stinging slap on the face of the country’s anti-drug czar President Arroyo after it named the Philippines a major transshipment point for methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu and ranked it among the top five sources in the world of the illegal drug.

Drugs are often more than a necessity. They sometimes represent the thin line between survival and death. We know, too, that the prices of drugs in this country are so much more prohibitive than those in other Asian countries.

Not all food supplements and herbal medicines being sold in the market are safe, local health experts warned during a recent forum.

The Department of Health (DOH) reported a decrease in the number of Filipinos taking illegal drugs in the past several years, according to a statement Wednesday.

Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairman Vicente Sotto III slammed the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) for criticizing the agency’s plan to subject students nationwide to random drug tests.

Govt challenges UN report, calls for data review   The Philippines ranked No. 1 in Southeast Asia as the country with the most number of drug users based on the 2008 World Drug report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.