Mother Earth Essay

MANILA, Filipinos An estimated 1.7 zillion Filipinos are hooked on doses, with 1,700 of them anxious(p) each year due to their addiction, a insecure Drugs Board (DDB) official. DDB executive director director Benjamin Reyes told the House committee on dangerous drugs that the 1.7 million represents an increase of 200,000 from the tot up of drug users two years ago. Based on his agencys estimate, he state the number of deaths directly related to drug use is very scummy. Even the World health governing body ranks the Filipinos 153rd in terms of drug use-related mortalities, he tell. Committee members led by chairman Vicente Belmonte Jr. of Iligan City expressed disbelief over Reyes low numbers. I think those are non reliable, Paraaque Rep. Roilo Golez, a author Palace national security adviser, said. He said he could non believe that only 1,700 deaths a year could be attri thated to or generate by drug use. We always claim that 70-75 percent of crimes and deaths resulti ngfrom these crimes are drug-related, he said. Golezs colleagues agreed with him.Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said drug use today is not confined only in Metro Manila and urban centers but has spread even in the rural areas as well. Belmonte said thither are already tens of thousands of drug users in the provinces. For his part, Rep. Loreto Leo Ocampos of Misamis Occidental said drug lords in his province and in Ozamis City are patronage the Kuratong Baleleng group of bank robbers. They export bank robbers to Metro Manila. They give each group of robbers P2 million for every operation, he said. While the DDB gave estimates on the number of Filipino drug users and drug-related deaths, former(a) agencies baffling in the fight against drugs, including the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Philippine National Police and the National breast of Investigation, could not provide data. Belmonte said he would invite representatives of the Department of Health (DOH) to his committees next hearings to determine if they take over information on drug-related deaths.Padilla said the DOH, which routinely monitors smoking-related deaths, should have information on the number of Filipinos detain from drug addiction. I think drug abuse is a much serious problem than smoking, he said. Committee members besides complained of lose of coordination among agencies involved in the fight against drug abuse. Surigao del Sur Rep. Philip Pichay said some police force units in the provinces are hesitant to go after drug peddlers and users in deference to the PDEA. New PDEA chief Arturo Cacdac said while his agency is the go past entity in the fight against unratified drugs, the police and other law enforcement units chiffonier wage their own campaigns provided that they coordinate with the PDEA. Coordination can take place before, during or after their operation. They can just text or call us. We have regional offices, he said. MANILA, Philippines Illegal dr ugs remain a significant problem in the Philippines due to corruption and poor law enforcement, a US government embrace said.In its 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy business relationship (INCSR), the US State Department said corruption of police and other public officials remains an obstacle to better law enforcement in the Philippines.The report, date Feb. 27, 2009, came amid the alleged bribery of Justice prosecutors in the dismissal of the illegal drug case against three scions of wealthy families who were arrested by anti-narcotics agents in September last year.The drug problem in the Philippines remains significant, despite the continued efforts of Philippine law enforcement authorities to disrupt major drug trafficking organizations and dismantle undercover drug laboratories and warehouses. The Philippines faces challenges in the areas of drug use and production, law enforcement, corruption, and drug trafficking, the INCSR report said.The report also cited offi cial and widespread reports linking rebel groups to marijuana plantations, and that the comprise of these drugs might even be funding their operations.It noted the Philippines vast stretches of unpatrolled and sparsely inhabited coastline across more than 7,000 islands make it an attractive narcotics source and transshipment sphere for traffickers, including terrorist and insurgent organizations.Illegal drugs and precursor chemicals also enter and leave the untaught through seaports, economic zones, and airports. Children are often used as lane drug runners because of the difficulty in prosecuting them when they are caught in possession of illegal drugs, it said.Enforcement remains a high priority for the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as the lead counter-narcotics agency. As a comparatively new agency, the PDEAs effectiveness remains hampered by a lack of investigatory discipline, leading to the dismissal of cases for insufficient evidence. There are also coordination problems with other agencies, and trained investigative staff is inadequate to the scale of the problem, it added.Also, it said there was widespread use of illegal drugs nationwide, despiteclaims by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) that statistics on drug use were inaccurate.The INCSR report added that based on drug seizures in 2008, the Philippines continued to be a producer of looking glass hydrochloride (shabu) and marijuana.