Fighting the anti-drug war

By Suchada Tupchai

June 26 was World Anti-Drug Day, and in the week leading up to this date the International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, ICDAIT, was held in Vienna. In other words this has been a time for us here in Thailand to focus our minds on our own anti-drug policies, and to ask ourselves very seriously whether or not they are working.
All the signs are that the fight against narcotics use in Thailand is being lost. Arrests of individuals are made regularly, drug rings are busted, and quantities of narcotics large and small are seized. But still the problem creeps back. Still lives are destroyed, families are broken up, and society goes in fear of drug-related crime.
Why isn’t the anti-drugs campaign working? There is no easy answer, of course. One can point an accusing finger at the many ministries, government departments and agencies involved, and even at the religious institutes, and say the fault lies there because each of the organizations follows its own methods and sometimes they are in conflict. But this would not be accurate because any method to combat drug use must be considered positive.
One can also point to corruption, and the failure to tear out drug production and trafficking at its roots. This would carry more credibility. But the laws of supply and demand work on an awesome scale in the world of narcotics, and all the time the demand is there the supply will be there too.
In the end, it comes down to individual failings. We all carry a responsibility for what we do. This sense of responsibility springs from personal character, which itself largely derives from strength of the family and the immediate community, and a sound education. But anyone can say “no” to drugs, it doesn’t matter what their background is. We as individuals alone can make the choice.
In this year when Thailand is celebrating an occasion as profound and as uplifting as the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King’s accession to the throne, a time when royalty and statesmen have gathered in Thailand to express their warmest congratulations, it is time for every individual to stop and examine his or her own personal standards. There is an enormous pride in Thailand right now. Is every individual proud of himself or herself? Is life good and full of promise, or is it a drug-addled mess that can only be remedied by the next fix?
There is a campaign to make people aware that the immense good done in Thailand by His Majesty and the other members of the Royal Family can filter down to the most humble person in terms of thought and deed. Each individual can be a person of integrity and honor, no matter their role in society. Every person can be drug-free.
The war against drugs in Thailand is a deadly serious one. But it begins and ends with the individual. In this most glorious moment in our nation’s history, every single one of us needs to bear this in mind.