PDEA destroys P167M worth of illegal drugs, expired medicines

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency destroyed illegal drugs and expired medicine worth P167 million in a treatment, storage and disposal facility for hazardous waste in Bulacan Friday.

In a statement, PDEA Director General Undersecretary Jose Gutierrez Jr. said that the activity was done to “assure the public that the dangerous drugs seized by the government are not being ‘recycled’ back into the streets.”

He said that they destroyed the items at a facility owned by Holcim Philippines, Incorporated in Barrio Matictic, Norzagaray, Bulacan, in compliance with Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and the Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation No. 1 series of 2002 which governs the custody and disposition of dangerous drugs, chemicals and laboratory equipment.

Among those disposed by PDEA were 2.59 tons of opium poppy seeds, 8.9 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu”, 4 kilograms of cocaine, 37 kilograms of dried marijuana leaves as well as other dangerous drugs and expired medicine. PDEA stated that the items were subjected to proper destruction and disposal through cement kiln co-processing.

PDEA has teamed up with Holcim, which had been licensed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to co-process qualified waste through kiln co-processing, for the use of the latter’s facility to dispose of dangerous drugs.