It happened for the past couple of years and it just happened again; Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set flames to $311 million worth of confiscated drugs.
Every year, the country burns cache of drugs to mark the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Uniquely, Thailand is notorious for being one of the three countries that makes up the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle is one of the two main opium producers in Asia and the term was coined by the CIA in the 1920’s.
Consequently, Thailand’s huge volume of illegal drugs is a burden on the country’s justice minister, Paiboon Koomchaya. Earlier this month, he admitted to the country losing the war on drugs. As a result, he wants to legalize methamphetamines, which he believes is less harmful than alcohol and cigarettes. He thinks such an approach can lower the usage of that stimulant. Despite that, the country still has a zero-tolerance policy towards drug abuse.
This year, 5 tons of illegal drugs, mostly methamphetamine, were incinerated ahead of the observance. In either case, the amount is a decrease from last year’s annual burning. The FDA destroyed over seven tons of drugs in 2015. However, this year’s was more than the three tons confiscated in 2014.
As has been noted by Bangkokpost.com, FDA Secretary General Boonchai Somboonsuk said the amount of methamphetamine was 4,240 kg or 47 million pills. The estimated street worth is 9.4 million baht.
In addition to that, there was one billion baht worth of 422 kg crystal methamphetamine, or commonly known as ice. Also included were 411 kg of heroin valued at 440 million baht, 9 kg of cocaine accounted at 28 million baht, 3 kg of ecstasy or 15,457 ecstasy pills valued at 12 million baht, and 38 kg of opium worth 400,000 baht. On top of that, 32 million baht worth of 4,088 kg compressed marijuana were burned.
Boonchai told a press conference that the illicit drugs were evidence to 231,100 cases. The disputes were already concluded in court.
FDA officials moved the drugs from the FDA warehouse to an area in Ayutthaya for the incineration. Since there have been pollution disputes in Ayutthaya, the burning was set at 850 degrees Celsius to avoid air pollution.
