Illegal Drugs - How Much Do We Actually Know About This?

[Methersgate]

This is a bit of a forbidden subject but I strongly suspect that illegal drugs - pot, ecstasy, methamphetamine ("shabu" or if mixed with caffeine "ya ba") and indeed heroin are very common.

 

The subject is rather at the edge of what we like to think about - long distance coach drivers are said to take shabu to stay alert, etc.

 

Would be interested to find out what others know and/or suspect.

 

 

[Old55]

My folks sold their Talisay house and moved to a gated community on the hill overlooking Tabernok (spelling?) late last year. Shabu related crime and air pollution was the reason.

[MikeB]

I don't have any first-hand knowledge of drugs in the Philippines (I swear) but my social circle is very small. My only reference is what I read about in the papers, killings and draconian prison sentences. Makes good headlines. The war on drugs in the Philippines seems to be going as well as it does in the US, Mexico, and every other place it exists. Ex-Presidente Fox is now advocating the legalization of all drugs.

[earthdome]

There is an active cannabis (marijuana) culture. I see this in Baguio with cannabis related slogans spray painted "tagged" on walls. I have seen news reports on the local war on drugs where over 90% of what is seized is marijuana and reports of some remote areas of the Cordillera mountains where marijuana is the big cash crop.

 

I long ago came to the conclusion that the war on drugs causes a great deal more harm to society than the harm someone can do to themselves or others from heavy drug abuse.

[Methersgate]

Thanks; I have heard that in parts of Mountain province marijuana is the best cash crop; I had forgotten until you reminded me.

 

Looks like we all have similar ideas on the subject. Certainly I think young Filipinos and Filipinas have no difficulty in getting hold of drugs and are often under social pressure from their peer groups to try them.

 

I agree with Earthdome; for our Governments to waste taxpayers money by putting the price of drugs up and inflating the dealers margins is not sensible. Drugs were legal everywhere in the world except China in 1840.... look what happened - China was the nation that succumbed to drugs.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Methersgate