Authorities concerned with a growing trade in the mild stimulant drug dimethylamphetamine, are considering amending the laws to place dealership in this drug into a higher category, making punishment as severe as that faced by yaba dealers.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Pipat Yingseri said yesterday traffickers in dimethylamphetamine faced a 20year jail term, whereas yaba dealers could receive either a life sentence or death.
He said many yaba addicts, if unable to find the drug, bought dimethylamphetamine and took it in higher doses to achieve the same effect as yaba.
The drug's price of Bt150Bt200 per tablet was the same as yaba, but as people needed to buy more, many dealers were turning to trade in it due to the higher profit, Pipat explained.
If more severe punishment was not introduced, dealers would shift to sell it or mix it with their yaba formula. Police reported that dimethylamphetamine trafficking now accounts for 10 per cent of national drug busts.
The FDA and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) have agreed dimethylamphetamine dealers should face punishment as severe as those selling yaba by lifting this drug into category 1, Pipat said.
Pipat said Public Health Minister Wittaya Kaewparadai had signed the regulation for such a change in February and sent it on to the Cabinet's secretariat for publication in the Royal Gazette.
However, FDA was notified in June the regulation had a format problem and suggested 34 other drugs promoted earlier should also be included in the regulation. FDA was working on the new law before resubmitting it to Public Health Minister, he explained.
Following the ministry's legal advice, Pipat said yesterday he had sent a letter calling on the secretariat to announce the regulation for implementation urgently.
Format changing could delay the process, in which the regulation must be scrutinised by the Psychotropic Substance Committee and the Narcotics Control Board, he said.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment