An addict in every five households

Walking down any barangay, one is likely to encounter a druggie in every five homes. There are 4.7 million of them, one-fifth of the 23.5 million households.

That’s 1.1 million more than the 3.6 million estimated a decade ago. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency recently updated its figures based on results of the National Police’s O-Plan Double Barrel.

Under that war on drugs, the police visited 7.5 million houses of known junkies from July 2016 to April 2017. Barangay halls accepted the surrender of 1,178,026 users and 88,940 pushers.

Ninety-six percent are hooked on methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu); some on methylene-dioxymethamphetamine (Ecstasy). The PDEA includes marijuana tokers because cannabis is listed among the prohibited drugs; more and more countries are legalizing its medical and, in some, recreational use.

Shabu, because synthetic, is deemed more dangerous than cocaine, from coca, and opium and heroin, from poppy. It can cause instant addiction in one of every three first-time users, doctors of the Dangerous Drugs Board aver. Most susceptible are the one in every three persons who happen to have higher levels of dopamine in the body. Dopamine is the natural substance responsible for craving. When the mere sight of a plate of green mangoes already makes one taste the sourness, that's his dopamine at work. Synthetic shabu feeds on dopamine.

The cost of addiction is prohibitive. The druggie uses up an P8,300-gram of shabu every ten days, or P830 a day; or a P2,100-tablet of Ecstasy every four days, or P525 a day. The minimum daily wage, depending on regions, ranges from P400 to P450.

Rehab is costly, P10,000 to P80,000 a month, depending on the clinic's location, facilities, and professional staff. Effective live-in rehab takes about six months. Though not citing sources, President Duterte often says that 23 percent of junkies are beyond rehab. Sometimes incurable users and pushers who are introduced in the rehab clinic continue their buyer-seller relationship after the six-month program.

The cost on the family is incalculable. Addicts may steal from the home to sustain the habit. They drop out of school; lose their health, jobs, and minds; and violate relatives and neighbors during paranoid highs. Families may break up. Duterte often recounts too how a retired policeman-friend sought help when a doped son took hold of his firearm at home and repeatedly raped the sister.

Mass addiction softens the state. A large segment of the population becomes unproductive. Counterproductive even, as three in five street crimes are drug-related, according to the PNP.

 Riding on the shoulders of the 4.7 million druggies is a pyramidal narco-syndicate. At the top are shabu makers and importers, mostly Chinese, Taiwanese, African, and Mexican (Sinaloa gang). Filipinos serve as area distributors, for regions, provinces, cities, and islands. Below them are the street pushers.

They have protectors in the police-military, among lawmakers and local officials, prosecutors and judges. Duterte has given Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez a list of 10,000 such protectors. Included are narco-politicians, either put in office by narco-traffickers or who are themselves into narco-trade.

PDEA director-general Isidro Lapeña recently reported in a “Real Numbers Forum” that:

• 197 shabu labs have been dismantled since 1997, in farms, piggeries, seaside resorts, residential subdivisions, and commercial buildings; 3,762 kilos of shabu were seized; 242 chemists and financiers were arrested; and P19.95 billion worth of drugs, ingredients, and equipment were confiscated;

• Since 1997 too, 201 law enforcers, 323 elected officials, and 402 government employees have been arrested for drug involvement; and

• 488 arrested foreigners include 231 Chinese, 55 Taiwanese, 25 Nigerians, 22 Americans, 16 Koreans and 139 other nationals. 

The drug menace worsened through the years due to government inattention. Narco-politicos and narco-generals were able to advance.

PDEA anti-drug drives intensified with the start of the Duterte administration in July 2016, Lapeña's figures showed. The 12,428 anti-illegal drug operations in January to June 2016 rose to 41,912 in July to December, for a 237-percent increase. The total in 2016 was 117-percent higher than in 2015.

From July 1, 2016 to April 20, 2017, there have been 53,503 raids and buy-busts resulting in 64,917 arrests. The 9,624 arrests in January to June 2016 rose to 44,050 in July to Dec., a 358-percent increase. There were 176-percent more arrests in 2016 than in 2015.

Lapeña also reported: 

• 33,510 drug cases filed in court from July 1, 2016 to April 20, 2017;

• 1,645 kilos of shabu seized in the same period; 

• Value of seized drugs and non-drug evidence: P14.49 billion, or 12 percent of estimated supply in less than a year; and

• With the 1.266 million surrendered users, index crimes like theft and robbery dropped 26.45 percent.

Much publicized, the PNP has slain 2,700 pushers who allegedly fought back during anti-drug operations since July 2016. Another 1,500 have been executed by vigilantes. Still many are arrested each day for narco-trafficking. Meaning, there's still a huge market of addicts to sell to.

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