DDB: PHL drug use still below world prevalence, but officials' involvement alarming

The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) on Friday said the percentage of the Filipino population using drugs is still below world prevalence, even as it expressed alarm over the involvement of authorities in illegal narcotics.

"We're still below the world prevalence of 5.2 [percent]. At most, if we assume the intelligence reports that we have 4 million drug users, that would mean we only have around 4 percent," DDB Chairman Dr. Benjamin Reyes said in a policy forum held at University of the Philippines-Diliman.

"And so admittedly, we're still better off as far as the figures are concerned. But it's an alarming trend that we have politicians involved in the drug activities," Reyes added.

Reyes said 195 law enforcers, 274 elected officials and 373 government employees have been arrested over drug links.

He added that as part of the internal cleansing of the Philippine National Police (PNP), 197 individuals have been dismissed after drug test.

Reyes said that the PNP is already investigating over 1,181 law enforcers nationwide, of whom 21 have already been administratively charged and 21 have been criminally charged.

He said that drug prevalence rate in the Philippines is at 2.3 percent which is lower than the global rate of 5.2 percent.

"In 2015, the Dangerous Drugs Board commissioned a survey, it was revelaed that there are around 1.8 million (2.3 percent prevalence) Filipinos who are using drugs," he said.

"Some intelligence reports would suggest that the figure is around 4 million. Majority of the users were males, employed adults with at least a high school education. Majority of the users come from the Visayas Region and followed by the National Capital Region and then by Mindanao," he added.

Reyes said that cannabis or marijuana is the number one substance being used in the country. It was followed by methamphetamine or "shabu," followed by cocaine.

"In the Philippines, substances being shared now appears to be number one, marijuana. Then, followed by methamphetamine shabu and then surprisingly cocaine is already included in the picture. It is ususally taken in combination. However shabu still owns the highest share in the market and prevalent in rehabilitation facilities," Reyes said.

According to the 2016 World Drug Report, an estimated 247 million people have used drugs in 2014. One out of every 20 people between the ages of 15 and 64 years old have used at least one drug.

"Overall drug problem worldwide is still considered stable. This is also the same in Asia. The World Drug Report considers the drug problem in Asia stable," Reyes said.

Reyes then pointed out that out of the 5.2 percent prevalence rate of drug users in the world, around 0.6 percent of it are considered "problematic drug users" who may require inpatient treatment and rehabilitation programs.

The policy forum was organized in collaboration with the University of the Philippines-Diliman Office of the Chancellor and the College of Law's Institute of Human Rights. The two-day forum is held at GT-Toyota Asian Center Auditorium in Diliman, Quezon City. —JST, GMA News