Thai PM Vows to Slow Drug Trade

By AMBIKA AHUJA / AP WRITER

BANGKOK — Thailand's prime minister vowed Wednesday to reduce drug trafficking within six months but said he would avoid abuses that have marked previous government crackdowns.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced his plan after revealing that the number of addicts in the country has been steadily increasing.

Abhisit said the crackdown will be conducted lawfully and without violence.

A "war on drugs" conducted under former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra led to about 2,300 killings. Human rights activists claim many were extrajudicial executions.

"If all sides work together, I am confident that the amount of drugs being trafficked will be reduced. The government has set up a six-month timeframe to produce concrete results," Abhisit said.

Despite the alleged abuses, the 2003 drug war under Thaksin was popular in some rural areas and slums where a tide of methamphetamine from neighboring Myanmar led to soaring addiction and crime.

Thaksin's government claimed drug gangs carried out most of the killings to eliminate informers or rivals. Few if any people were tried or convicted in the slayings.

Abhisit, speaking at a meeting of high-ranking security officials about drug suppression, said official statistics showed 460,000 drug abusers in 2003, 570,000 in 2007—the year after Thaksin was ousted by a military coup—and 605,000 in 2008.

"A crackdown (on illegal drugs) has to be done decisively, but we also have to take the law into consideration," he said. "(We) do not want a policy that promotes a violent crackdown that will lead to other problems."

Separately, Dr. Boonreun Triruenworarat of the Public Health Ministry said the number of teenage drug users has risen significantly in recent years, with addicts between the ages of 13 and 18 accounting for 40 percent of all abusers at the end of last year, up from about 20 percent in 2007.