Premier Su Calls First Drug Control Meeting for Years

• Publication Date： 2011-03-22
• Last updated：2019-01-14
• View count：2078

Premier Su Calls First Drug Control Meeting for Years The threat of rampant use of drugs to public health has attracted Premier Su’s close attention. After taking office, the premier immediately resumed the Executive Yuan Drug Control Meeting and designed Minister of Justice Shih Mou-lin as the meeting’s executive general to integrate the efforts of the various government agencies on both central and local levels for drug control. On the afternoon of June 2, he called the first drug control meeting since 2000. The heads of 40 organizations took part. In the meeting, the premier issued the following instructions: A. Drug crackdown 1. The source of drugs should be cut off on the upstream. He said shutting off the tap is more effective than mopping up water on the floor. Although it is a tough task, the control effort should be zeroed in on drug syndicates, manufacturing plants, and other priority sources. In the first quarter of the year, 1971.2 kilograms of drugs and 10 amphetamine plants were cracked, amply demonstrating the various law-enforcement agencies’ determination to wipe out drugs. I am gratified with the achievements. 2. The legal basis for confiscating the properties of drug traffickers and manufacturers for use in drug control has been found, contributing much to severance of the sources. The Ministry of Justice should demand its district prosecutors’ offices to actively request confiscating the assets of the offenders and the Financial Supervisory Commission should move in haste to check the properties of drug traffickers and manufacturers. We must let them pay the price to the cent. 3. As for the four things that need coordination by other agencies, i.e., the lack of enough private surveillance and interpretation stations, a quick investigation and conclusion of cases involving the smuggling of drugs by fishing boat, the probe into drug traffickers’ income and capital, and urine test on the ingestion of a negligible amount of drug, he asked the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Financial Supervisory Commission, and the Department of Health to go all out to find solutions. 4. The approval rate of law courts on prosecutors’ requests for imprisoning drug offenders has exceeded 90% on average. These offenders should never be randomly released on bail. Besides, the Executive Yuan has revised the Regulations Governing Rewards and Punishment for Drug Cases. An accuser of drug can get a reward up to NT$10 million and the reward for the agency that busts such a case may go up to NT$6 million. This should be widely publicized to encourage accusations and crackdowns. B. Drug prevention 1. It is a new thinking in this time’s drug control strategy that the battle line should be moved from drug control to drug prevention, making the control effort more complete and comprehensive. As for the four anticipated objectives proposed in this meeting, including the establishment of a domestic drug reporting mechanism, I would like to invite the Department of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to actively carry them out. If they need support, related agencies should take coordinating steps to help them. 2. In June 2005, a law-enforcement organization in Taichung cracked a case of diverting 5,400 grams of legally imported ephedrine to the manufacture of amphetamine. This indicates that there are still loopholes in the control and management of precursor chemical agents to allow drug makers to obtain huge amount of raw materials. As the loopholes have a grave effect, drug control would be very difficult if the fountainhead is not stopped. I would like the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Department of Health to take more effective measures, such as stepping checks on precursor agents and punishing offenders harshly. A stricter and more complete system of control must be established as soon as possible. C. Drug rejection 1. The statistics just reported by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission show that most of the drug users are unemployed youth with not very high education rather than students. To avoid loopholes in the network of drug control, we should not limit our effort to schools. Instead, we should effectively deal with high-risk groups, such as employees on the job market, dropouts, and jobless people. I would like to ask the Ministry of Education to bring together the Council of Labor Affairs, the National Youth Commission, the Council for Cultural Affairs, and the Ministry of Interior Affairs to map out specific and feasible countermeasures. We should employ different conduits to publicize drug abuse and prevent people from accidentally getting addicted because of economic factor, peer pressure, or ignorance. 2. Given to the fact that raw materials for making new drugs are easy to get, the profit is high, the appearance is varied, the penalty is light, and the channels of marketing are diverse, all schools should establish connections with police and public heath organizations to handle timely the cases of student use of drug. I hope the Department of Health and the Ministry of Justice will provide timely information on the varieties of new drugs, names of examination organizations, and examination methods to enable the schools to prevent the use and avoid the deluge. 3. When an anti-drug organization seizes the drug, it should underscore the harm and penalty in their news releases and avoid stressing the market value of the catch so that the public can heighten their alert. D. Drug rehabilitation 1. In recent years, drug recidivism tends to increase. So, to stop the tendency effectively has become the crux of success in drug control. This year, the Ministry of Justice has established two independent rehab institutions. It is important to introduce professional medical resources in this respect. I would like to invite the Department of Health to upgrade the efficacy of existent compulsory rehab measures and enlarge the services of rehab medical treatment. Besides, we should establish a multiple Taiwanese mode of drug rehabilitation by combing the efforts of religious, public benefit, and corrective organizations. 2. The Ministry of Justice has only two rehab institutions, at Hsintien and Taichung, which are not enough to meet the current need. I would like to ask the Ministry of National Defense to provide unused military billets to the Ministry of Justice for use as rehabilitation sites. I would like to see the National Personnel Administration and the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics give full support to the Ministry of Justice so that the two planned independent rehab institutions can be established as soon as possible. 3. After a drug addict is released, circumstances, psychological assistance, and employment are closely related to his repetition of offense. Various organizations should actively help the Department of Health in the implementation of its preventive measures. The Department of Health should study, in conjunction with the Council of Labor Affairs, whether it is possible to gear vocational training to drug rehabilitation. This may be a way to return rehab addicts to society for a normal life and for curbing recidivism. 4. Counties and cities should establish drug control centers. The chief prosecutors of the various district prosecutors’ offices should call on the magistrates and mayor to see these local rehab centers established as soon as possible. We must enlist local resources in drug control. Declaration on Privacy Right Protection