Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome
announces that the Ministry of Interior has ordered Pattaya officials to
comply with its “7-4-3-6” plan to combat illegal narcotics distribution
and use.
Manoon Makpol
Thailand’s renewed “war on drugs” has come to
Pattaya.
At a April 11 meeting, Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome
announced that the Ministry of Interior has ordered Pattaya officials to
comply with its “7-4-3-6” plan to combat illegal narcotics distribution
and use.
The plan, announced by Prime Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra in September, is modeled on the blueprint masterminded by her
brother, Thaksin.
Opinion polls continue to show nearly a third of
Thais believe drugs are the top crisis facing the country and, during
her Aug. 12 birthday message, HM Queen Sirikit called on Yingluck’s
newly elected Pheu Thai government to make it a priority.
The 7-4-3-6 program, operated by Deputy Prime
Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung - who in 2008 advocated a return to Thakin’s
“no mercy” policy - targets both dealers and at-risk youth with a master
plan built on seven “plans”, four “improvements”, three “strategies” and
six “urgent priorities”.
The three strategies are built around community
activism to control drug use, national resolve to reduce demand and
border protection to prevent drugs from entering the country.
Improvements called for center around better news and
information dissemination, reform of government agencies and new laws.
Yingluck’s plan - and Thaksin’s before hers - is to
hold deputy prime ministers, ministers, chiefs of police, governors, all
the way down to village headmen directly responsible for seeing this
policy through.
Under the Ministry of Interior directive unveiled
this month, Itthiphol and Pattaya’s police will now be under the same
scrutiny to carry out Yingluck’s war.
Ministry officials will now begin auditing law
enforcement statistics for the past three years to determine what
monitoring and training will be needed for area officials. Likely to be
introduced are drug tests for government officials and public employees.
