Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Drug labs penetration into ASEAN countries

August 22, 2007
ASEAN faces lab-made drug influx

Vietnam and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are encountering stronger production and trade of lab-made drugs and chemicals used to make the narcotics, local newspaper Young People reported Wednesday.

"Now, we (ASEAN) have to face an increase in production of lab- made drugs like methamphetamine and many new narcotics.. The appearance of transnational drugs gangs with the participation of many people of different nationalities is also a big challenge to ASEAN countries," Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Public Security Le The Tiem told the newspaper on the sidelines of an ongoing regional anti-drug meeting.

The ASEAN should both prevent the growing of poppy and cannabis and closely manage chemicals used to make narcotics, he said.

Delegates to the two-day 28th Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD) starting Tuesday in Hanoi capital are to focus their discussions on drug crime information, public awareness campaigns, prevention, enforcement, poppy field eradication and rehabilitation initiatives for addicts.

Ten ASEAN members, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Singapore, have set a target of achieving a drug-free region by 2015.

Vietnam detected 4,246 drugs-related cases with the involvement of 6,281 people in the first half of this year, confiscating 93.6 kg of heroin, 28.3 kg of opium, 201.3 kg of marijuana, and 19,719 pills of lab-made narcotics. As of late June, the country had 166, 291 drug addicts on record, 84.7 percent of whom use heroin.

Source: Xinhua

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