Crafting anti-drug policies the correct way

MANY find it funny or even weird that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Education – two prominent members of the Dangerous Drugs Board, the country’s foremost policymaking body in the drug war – are openly engaged as protagonists in the controversial proposal to subject teachers and pupils Grade 4 and up to mandatory drug testing.

PDEA Director-General Aaron Aquino said the compulsory drug testing in public and private schools yearly is now needed in the wake of the rescue by authorities of 10-yearolds allegedly using illegal drugs. He also said random drug tests have not been effective.

DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones swiftly opposed the PDEA proposal, saying it is “against the law (RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) which only covers random drug testing for secondary and college students” and that “it will be a nightmare.”

“We are talking about some 14 million students from Grades 4 to 12. The protocol on drug testing that we are following is very strict and complicated. Napakalaking undertaking yan, it will be a nightmare,” Briones said in a media interview. “Hindi ganoon kadali ang drug testing lalo na sa mga bata. At may mga protocol diyan, gaya ng pagkuha ng samples ng ihi and others, no identities should be revealed, results should not be made public, at kung mag-positive ang bata, kailangan ulitin ang test.”

Others also expressed opposition. Sen. Koko Pimentel said the drug test would be “pointless” as one cannot be forced to reveal incriminating information. “Assume there is a positive test result. Sige nga, start drafting the information or even the complaint which starts the preliminary investigation. What will you put there? When did he take the drug? Where? What kind of drug? What quantity?” he said.

Sen. Kiko Pangilinan said the proposal will be “prone to corruption, will become a money making scheme for test centers.” And such mandatory drug tests would have a chilling effect on schoolchildren, according to Alliance of Concerned Teachers secretary general Raymond Basilio.

The PDEA proposal last week that stirred much controversy has indeed raised many questions. Could the huge amount of money (DepEd said spending P200 for drug testing of each of the 14 million students will cost about P2.8 billion) be put to better use elsewhere in the drug campaign? Should anti-drug policies be focused much more on eradicating supply, vis-à-vis demand, of illegal drugs?

While the PDEA director general certainly has all the right to come up and push for new policies to effectively wage the drug war, considering it is a regular member of the DDB, and not a mere consultant of the DDB like the heads of the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation, policy-making ought to be a joint undertaking of all members of the DDB. Indeed, DDB members working as a whole is the correct way to craft policies.

The DDB is a high-powered organization composed of l7 members, nine of whom belong to President Duterte’s Cabinet – the Secretaries of the Departments of Justice, Health, National Defense, Finance, Labor and Employment, Interior and Local Government, Social Welfare and Development, Foreign Affairs, and Education. Aside from the PDEA chief, other members are heads of the Commission on Higher Education and National Youth Commission, the national president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and national president of the Philippine Association of Social Workers Inc.

The law empowers the DDB to “be the policy-making and strategyformulating body in the planning and formulation of policies and programs on drug prevention and control.” It is tasked to “formulate, develop and establish a comprehensive, integrated, unified and balanced national drug abuse prevention and control strategy.”As such, DDB is really the overall leader in the drug war, instead of PNP as what many thought previously when police seemed to have their own operation plans that were not DDB-approved.

With such brilliant minds in the DDB, many believe that inherent flaws and serious mistakes that have plagued the drug war could have been avoided if only policies and strategies were made to undergo extensive scrutiny and planning by the DDB.

The various executive departments could have contributed greatly in coming up with policies and strategies. DOLE, for instance, could come up with a livelihood strategy for addicts and pushers to rebuild their lives. DOJ could come up with ways to improve prosecution and speed up cases, DILG could find ways to have more jails and get more LGUs to be more active in the drug campaign, DepEd could intensify efforts to steer the youth away from drugs, DOH could come up with more rehab centers or even asylums for the criminally insane for those beyond recovery.

In other words, fully implementing RA 9165 to the letter is the key to a “comprehensive, integrated, unified and balanced national drug use prevention and control strategy” that would spell success in the current drug war.