Thai PM vows to get rid of narcotics

BANGKOK, June 26 (TNA) - Thailand observed the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which annually falls on June 26, as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has vowed to eradicate narcotics from Thailand. Yingluck announced the policy when presiding over a ceremony to launch an anti-drug campaign at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok Tuesday morning, covering preventing and suppressing of illicit drugs, searching for drug addicts and traffickers, implementing drug rehabilitation programs and encouraging the public to stay away from narcotics, both directly and indirectly. The Thai premier said that narcotics are a national problem which needs collective attempts by all parties to resolve, as drugs have affected not only addicts, but also their families and the whole nation, and even to separate traffickers from addicts, as well as to provide rehabilitation to concretely prevent repetitive addiction. Deputy Prime Minister Police Captain Chalerm Yubamrung, meanwhile, told journalists that he will visit the Thai North in the near future to follow up the government's anti-drug solutions. Chalerm noted that the Thai government is implementing right solutions to tackle drugs, especially a policy to seal off the border to block drug traffickers, to launch suppression based on the rule of laws and drug rehabilitation programs, and that drug abuse in prisons has dropped due to serious crackdowns by the government. According to the deputy premier, China's security minister will visit Thailand and meet him and the Thai prime minister on July 12 to discuss bilateral cooperation on narcotics prevention and suppression, including joint anti-drug campaigns along the border. (TNA)