Staying a step ahead

Video recordings show the mindblowing effects of party drugs, and there are confirmed accounts of Filipinos abusing the substances. Anti-narcotics agents have been conducting raids and sting operations and seizing the designer drugs.

Are the substances, however, covered by laws against prohibited drugs? Even the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime or UNODC is concerned that legislation worldwide cannot keep up with the new psychoactive substances or NPS that have gained popularity especially among the youth.

The UNODC has identified over 250 NPS including ketamine, with an unlimited number of potential derivatives, which can be developed into designer drugs. Philippine laws against prohibited drugs at least cover one of the most popular party drugs, ecstasy. Last week, Bureau of Customs agents at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport seized 14,720 ecstasy tablets with a street value estimated at P25 million from the NAIA Central Mail Exchange Center.

The drugs, concealed in a desktop computer, arrived at the NAIA over two weeks ago. BOC agents waited for the drugs to be claimed, and arrested Joan Lotela Reynoso of Cavite when she showed up for the computer. She denied knowledge of the ecstasy tablets.

Other party drugs and precursor chemicals, however, may have to be released if they are not in the list of prohibited substances. And yet the UNODC has warned that the new psychoactive substances can pose health risks, induce violent behavior and even cause death when abused. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has warned that some types of NPS have reached the country and are not yet covered by relevant laws.

Anti-narcotics agents must work with lawmakers and health officials to identify these substances quickly so that legislation can be passed to regulate or ban their manufacture, sale and use. The law must stay at least one step ahead of drug traffickers.