Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - The Thai Public Health Minister has said that narcotic drug users in Thailand seems to be dwindling, while the internet has opened up a new window for users to access drugs easily.

Wittaya Kaewparadai, Minister of Public Health of Thailand, said in a conference on Tuesday, that the situation of narcotic drugs in Thailand was worrisome.

“The previous drug user project was not effective. Almost all drug addicts, who participated in the project, were forced to stop using drugs after they were arrested, and not by their voluntary involvement in the programme,” he said.

A report by Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health reveals, currently, the youngest drug users are 13 years of age compared to earlier users who were aged 15.

Kaewparadai added that the officials had found there was a booming illicit drug trade through the internet, which made accessing drugs easier.

As a measure to curb the use of synthetic drugs, the authority has imposed restrictions on cold and cough relieving medicines, which are found to have ingredients of methamphetamine.

Weerawan Taengkaew from the Food and Drug Administration department of Thailand said they had found some drug-producers ordering some kind of drug ingredients in the name of pharmacy stores. So, she said, the authorities had increased surveillance on importing these ingredients.

She added that earlier, the use of cough medicines, with narcotic drugs were found mainly among teenagers in southern Thailand, but it had now extended to the country’s northern regions too.

Thai officials, she said, believed that drug abuse among teenagers was linked directly with the armed struggle in the three southern most provinces of the country.

However, most drugs in Thailand continue to come from the Thai-Burmese border, and arrests of drug-peddlers and seizure of drugs from these regions was still high.

Thailand shares a part of its border with the infamous Golden Triangle – Thailand, Burma and Lao – which is famous for its drug production.

Thailand, since the time of its former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, has long declared a ‘War on Drugs’ and began cracking down on poppy cultivations, within its territory, and also conducted raids and arrests on drug peddlers and traffickers.

However, Burma, which shares a porous border with Thailand, continues to rank the second highest producer of opium following Afghanistan.

However, Thaksin’s ‘war on drugs’ policy drew strong criticism from the international community, for its high-handedness towards innocent civilians.

Suthep Tueksuban, Thai Deputy Prime Minister said on Tuesday that the current government’s policy on drugs was to fight seriously against the drugs problem with respect to the rights of citizens.

“There will not be rights abuse actions such as abduction or extrajudicial killings. Every action will be operated under the law,” Suthep said.

Hong Kong–based Asian Human Rights Commission, has documented that there were more than 2,500 deaths in 2003, after the then Prime Minister's orders to launch a ‘war on drugs’.

The group noted in a report that a number of the deaths appeared to have been mostly of innocent people, whose cases were never properly investigated by the police.

Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Thai Prime Minister said on Wednesday, that the increase in the number of drug addicts in Thailand from 2003-2008 reflects the failure of the ‘war on drugs’ of the earlier regime.