A central Pattaya anti-drug program nabbed its first four addicts, who were sent to a rehabilitation program instead of jail.
Pol. Maj. Chainarong Chaiin, head of community policing, and Jirawat Plukjai, president of the Chumsai Community, led inspectors and neighborhood leaders on a tour of Soi Chalermprakiat 15 and Soi Yangyai June 28.
Their first stop was a house where a mother turned her son in to police. She said he locked himself in his room, used drugs and stared at passersby. She feared he might do something criminal.
Once he was taken away to Pattaya Police Station, the group moved on to an area with low-rent homes and makeshift shacks. There officers performed random drug tests on vagrants and residents, finding two men from outside of Pattaya squatting in the area, along with a local man who failed tests for drug use.
The three were given a choice: Go into a rehab program sponsored by the community or go to jail. They opted for rehab after they were processed at the police station.
Police and Chumsai officials launched the community anti-drug program in early June to stem a growing drug problem in the central Pattaya neighborhood. Community leaders insisted on rehabilitation, instead of arrest, in order to allow drug users to “turn over a new leaf” and ferment neighborhood spirit.
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