The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has revealed the profile of drug pushers
and substance abusers in the country.
PDEA
Director General Undersecretary Arturo G. Cacdac Jr. bared the updates
based on the demographic profile done by the agency and the Dangerous
Drugs Board (DDB) on arrested street level-pushers and users who were
admitted in government rehabilitation facilities.
According
to the drawn profile, street-level pushers, whose average age is 29
years old, have poor educational background and were unable to finish
high school. Most of the arrested personalities were married. The ratio
of male to female among the persons apprehended for selling illegal
drugs is 6 to 1.
Cacdac
said that 73 percent of arrested drug offenders had pushed
methamphetamine hydrochloride, popularly known as shabu, while 26
percent constituted marijuana sellers; and ecstasy, one percent.
“Majority of drug dependents in the country
are poly-drug users, which means they abuse multiple types of dangerous
drugs. Shabu is still the drug of choice among 62 percent of admitted
users. At the same time, 35 percent are using marijuana and 3 percent
used other drugs,” Cacdac added, citing the statistical chart obtained
from the DDB.
The
age
group of drug dependents varies from 20 to 29 years old, 57 percent of
them were single. The male drug users outnumbered the females 9 to 1.
“The average length of drug use among dependents prior to rehabilitation
is usually six years,” he said.
The
illicit drug market in the Philippines has thrived in a so-called
“sachet economy” where regular drug users only consume an average of
0.04 gram of shabu per session in a
twice-a-week use.
“From
January to October 2012, PDEA has arrested a total of 5,025 drug
pushers and 1,850 substance abusers nationwide. We are continuously
intensifying our anti-illegal drug operations to neutralize sources of
illegal drugs, and at the same time strengthening our anti-drug advocacy
campaigns,” the PDEA chief concluded.
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