PNP intensifies campaign vs student drug users, couriers

MANILA, Philippines—“Be watchful of your children in high school and in college. They might not just be a drug user, but a drug courier too.”

This was the warning of the Philippine National Police (PNP)’s anti-narcotic unit amid reports reaching its office that drug peddling has proliferated outside and inside educational institutions.

Chief Inspector Roque Merdegia, PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) spokesperson and legal and investigation division chief, said in an interview on Monday that they are intensifying their campaign against illegal drugs, targeting schools and universities in Metro Manila and some provinces.

As the opening of classes on June 2 approaches, Merdegia voiced alarm over the increasing number of students becoming drug couriers in their schools, saying this usually goes unnoticed by the school authorities.

With this, the PNP-AIDSOTF spokesperson urged the school administrators to work together with the PNP and other agencies in mitigating underground drug transactions in their institutions.

“If possible, the PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima directed us to conduct buy-bust and search operations everyday especially those near schools and universities,” Merdegia said.

He said that some drug peddlers usually sell methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu to students at “a very affordable price” to entice them to be “regular customers.”

“They offer promos and ‘free taste’ until they get addicted and until they choose to buy drugs at a normal price,” he said.

Merdegia reiterated the indicators if a person abuses illegal drugs.

“Some of these indicators are when their speech is slurred, their eyes are dilated. For those taking upper (stimulant) drugs, they are hyperactive than usual, while for those taking downers (depressant), they usually act aloof,” he detailed.

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