Drug-related crimes are problems that every government must tackle with full force and decisiveness. Even Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha’s military government is required to use tremendous resources to mitigate the massive influx of yaba and methamphetamine crystals into the country.

The public are concerned as to whether the war on drugs are as effective as in the past, as it is reported that prices for illicit drugs continue to remain low.

In truth, PM Prayut’s war on drugs is not inferior compared to previous governments, but the problem lies with cheaper methods of production which has caused the supply of drugs to explode and prices very low.

The Office of the Narcotics Conrol Board (ONCB) revealed that from January to September 2018, law enforcers confiscated a total of 300 million yaba pills, which already exceeded the 214 million pills seized in 2017. Authorities also seized only 5,000 kilograms of methamphetamine in 2017, but the number has increased by 3-folds to 15,000 kilograms in the first 9 months of 2018.

Although drug crackdowns have increased tremendously, it appears that the drug trade continues to be rampant  nationwide. The ONCB has told the press the more efforts that have been put in to drug trafficking, drug cartels have continued to churn out production more intensely.

There have also been reports of underground groups of Taiwanese chemists who are developing new production methods with precursors that are available in the industrial sector as authorities from various countries closely monitor the chemicals used to manufacture traditional methamphetamine.

The Thai Government has been working closely at an intergovernmental level with Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, China and Vietnam (called the Safe Mekong Coordination Center) in fighting the drugs epidemic. However, with the use of industrial chemicals which are not prohibited, efforts in preventing these chemicals from reaching the Golden Triangle has only gotten harder.

In the past 3 years, the NCPO has seized a total of 1.1 million kilograms of drugs.

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In truth, PM Prayut’s war on drugs is not inferior compared to previous governments, but the problem lies with cheaper methods of production which has caused the supply of drugs to explode and prices turning out very low.

The Office of the Narcotics Conrol Board (ONCB) revealed that from January to September 2018, law enforcers confiscated a total of 300 million yaba pills, which already exceeded the 214 million pills seized in 2017. Authorities also seized only 5,000 kilograms of methamphetamine in 2017, but the number has increased by 3-folds to 15,000 kilograms in the first 9 months of 2018.

Although drug crackdowns have increased tremendously, it appears that the drug trade continues to be rampant  nationwide. The ONCB has told the press the more efforts that have been put in to drug trafficking, drug cartels have continued to churn out production more intensely.

There have also been reports of underground groups of Taiwanese chemists who are developing new production methods with precursors that are available in the industrial sector as authorities from various countries closely monitor the chemicals used to manufacture traditional methamphetamine.

The Thai Government has been working closely at an intergovernmental level with Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, China and Vietnam (called the Safe Mekong Coordination Center) in fighting the drugs epidemic. However, with the use of industrial chemicals which are not prohibited, efforts in preventing these chemicals from reaching the Golden Triangle has only gotten harder.

In the past 3 years, the NCPO has seized a total of 1.1 million kilograms of drugs.