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[av_heading heading=’Drugs Board redefines brgy drug affectation ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – Drug-affected barangays in Negros Island Region will be reevaluated. The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) has new parameters in classifying drug affectation.
Amending the parameters was aimed at determining the severity of the drug problem, according to David Mark Maramba, chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) Operations Division in Negros.
Before, the presence of a single drug personality was enough to classify a village “drug-affected.”
A barangay is considered drug-affected if it has a user, pusher, manufacturer, (marijuana) cultivator, or other drug personality; a drug den; a marijuana plantation; a clandestine drug laboratory; and facilities related to illegal drug production.
Maramba said the new parameters will “give justice” to barangays with very mild drug affectation.
“If you come to think of it, ang problema lang naman [ng ilang barangay] is iisang tao,” he said. “Kung iisa lang siyang player sa barangay, tapos iyong users e hindi naman taga roon, kawawa naman iyong locality, they will be classified as ‘moderately affected.’”
New DDB definitions provide that a seriously drug-affected barangay has at least one clandestine drug laboratory or marijuana plantation and three or more drug dens or shabu tiangges, and more than 20 percent of the population comprise drug personalities (users, pushers or financiers).
On the other hand, a moderately affected barangay has drug personalities making up 2 percent of 20 percent of its total population, while a slightly affected barangay has drug personalities composing less than 2 percent of its total population.
“With the new parameters, barangays categorized as moderately affected may be reclassified as slightly affected” after the reevaluation, Maramba said.
Based on old DDB parameters, illegal drugs affect 91 percent of the 1,229 barangays across Negros Island Region.
The Police Regional Office 18 is expecting a reduction in drug-affected barangays under the new parameters.
It vowed to continue monitoring drug personalities, including the “new small players,” said Chief Inspector Dianne Grace Catedral, spokesperson.
The PDEA will also be watching out for new “players.”
“This is like a hydra effect,” Maramba said as he likened the intensified crackdown on illegal drugs to fighting a mythical multi-headed serpent that grows two more heads when one of the heads is cut off.
“We know some [drug personalities] have lied low, but there are still those willing to take risks, so we never let our guard down,” he stressed./PN
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