The government will not legalise narcotics drugs but will put more emphasis on rehabilitating drug addicts with the Ministry of Public Health as the lead organization in dealing with the addicts, Justice Minister Paiboon Kumchaya said on Wednesday.
He disclosed that several governments in the world had changed their perception towards narcotics drugs by legalizing some narcotic drugs and scrapping death penalty for narcotics trafficking while treating addicts as patients instead of criminals deserving penalties.
At the United Nations General Assembly last year, the minister said Thailand told the assembly that he was not ready to legalize narcotic drugs but had made drug addiction social and health issues.
He said that most governments had realized that waging war against drug abuses in the past 20 plus years was a failure as the problem has not eased but tends to escalate – hence the change of perception towards the drugs.
Thailand, said the minister, has amended narcotic law to the effect that penalties to be meted out against the culprits should be in proportion to their crime. He added that the government disagreed with death penalty for serious drug offenders.
