Sirinya Sitdhichai, secretary-general of the Narcotics Control Board said the urine test results of 182,910 men reporting for military conscription in 706 districts of 76 provinces had so far been entered into the NCB’s database.
Of these, 12,209 men, or 6.7%, tested positive for illicit drug use. They included 11,139 men found to be using methamphetamine (ya bah) and 750 marijuana. The rest were addicted to other substances.
He said 7,174 had already been sent for drug rehabilitation treatment. The remaining 5,035 young men were still awaiting their turn.
The NCB secretary-general said of the 12,209 who tested positive, 3,128 were among those drafted into the army by ballot. They would receive rehabilitation treatment during their military service.
Kalasin had the highest number of drug users (678), followed by Narathiwat (609) and Songkhla (592).
The NCB expected to finish inputting the drug test results of all men reporting for conscription, which was from April 1 to 12, by April 20. All were required to undergo urine tests.
The NCB had set a target to test all 516,240 young men called up for the ballot this year, he said.
Last year, 380,746 were given urine tests, short of the target of 493,140, he said.
Users who voluntarily entered the rehabilitation program would not face criminal action, and there would be no record of drug use as they were considered patients under order 108 issued by the National Council for Peace and Order, Mr Sirinya said.
Read original story here.