Illicit Drug use in the Asia Pacific Region - Burnet Institute

Situational analysis of illicit drug issues and responses in the Asia–Pacific region
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Other drugs
Ecstasy is imported and used in the Philippines,
regardless of its high price (Dangerous Drugs
Board, 2005) . The assumption by authorities
is that it is being used in ‘high-class bars’ .
Likewise, cocaine also enters the Philippines
for transhipment and personal use, at much
lower levels than methamphetamine . It
is generally seized from mail parcels . The
cocaine originates in South America and is
apparently destined for the Philippines and
onwards to other countries . The Philippines is
also used as a transit point for commercial air
couriers of heroin, but at much lower levels
than methamphetamine . Heroin is transhipped
from Thailand and Pakistan, and is
destined mainly for the United States, Guam
and Europe (Dangerous Drugs Board, 2005;
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
2003a) .
Drug arrests
In 2004, as a result of law enforcement
operations a total of 26,633 people were
arrested (see Table A10 .3) (Dangerous Drugs
Board, 2005) . The majority of arrests were
for use of an illicit drug (52%), supply of
an illicit drug to a drug user (45%); cultivation
comprised 0 .2 per cent of arrests .
Forty per cent of arrests were in metro-
Drug
Table A10 .4 . Drug prices in Philippines
Wholesale price
US$/kilogram
politan Manila, 20 per cent in Southern
Tagalog or Calabarzon region, 8 per cent in
Central Luzon and Central Visayas, and the
remaining 24 per cent in 13 other regions .
Fifty-six foreign nationals were arrested,
21 (38%) of whom were Chinese nationals,
mostly involved in the manufacture of shabu
(Dangerous Drugs Board, 2005) .
Crop studies and crop eradication statistics
Intensified cannabis eradication was undertaken
in 2004, with 94 operations yielding the
uprooting of 1,948,999 plants and 433,054
seedlings and the seizure of 827,250 grams
of dried leaves and other products (Dangerous
Drugs Board, 2005) .
Table A10 .3 . Category of drug-related arrests
as a result of law enforcement operations
Category of arrest # %
Use of an illicit drug 13,876 52
Sale of an illicit
drug to a user
12,016 45
Possession of
an illicit drug
666 2 .5
Cultivation 49 0 .2
Financier 26 0 .09
Source: Dangerous Drugs Board, 2005
Retail price
US$/gram Purity
Methamphetamine 36,500–44,611 32 .4–40 .6 –
Herbal cannabis 41–81 0 .1–0 .2 –
Ecstasy – 32 .4–36 .5 –
Cocaine – 90 .1–128 .7 –
Heroin – 90 .1–128 .7 90%
Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2004e
A10 .4 Drug-taking practices,
risk factors and trends
It is generally accepted that shabu is not injected
. The mode of ingestion is inhalation .
The shabu is typically heated on foil and the
fumes are then inhaled by the user . According
to the DDB (personal communication,
2005), the drug of choice for injecting
is the pharmaceutical analgesic Nubain
(Nalbuphine hydrochloride) .
The Philippines has one of the lowest rates
on HIV infection in Asia (Mateo Jr et al .,
2004) . The epidemic has been characterised
as ‘low’ and ‘slow’ (Mateo Jr et al ., 2004) .
From January 1984 to December 2003,
2001 HIV-positive cases were reported to
the HIV/AIDS Registry . At the time of report,
32 per cent (642) were symptomatic and of
these cases 44 per cent (260) had died . The
low prevalence / slow transmission scenario
may reportedly not continue for long,
because the ingredients for rapid spread of
HIV are evident: (a) low level of condom
use among high-risk groups; (b) low level of
knowledge in correctly identifying preventive
ways of contracting the disease; (c) increasing
practice of anal sex; (d) high prevalence
of STIs; and (e) high levels of needle sharing
amongst injecting drug users in Cebu City
(Mateo Jr et al ., 2004) .
Unlike other countries in Southeast Asia,
injecting drug use has not made a substantial
contribution to reported HIV
infections and AIDS cases in the Philippines
(Amadora-Nolasco et al ., 2002) . Injecting
drug use in the Philippines is concentrated
in several urban depressed communities
such as Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Gen .
Santos, Zamboanga Cities and Tondo, Manila
(personal communication, 2005) .
It is difficult to determine HIV prevalence
among IDUs as serosurveillance is conducted
only in Cebu City (Mateo Jr et al ., 2004) .
The worst scenario projected for IDU in
Cebu City would be 1–3 per cent HIV
seroprevalence (WHO, 2002; Mateo Jr et al .,
2004) . Nevertheless, sharing of needles and
syringes among IDUs is common . A 2002
estimate of sharing amongst IDUs in Cebu
City was reported to be 77 per cent (Mateo Jr
et al ., 2004) .
The Behavioural Baseline Survey on HIV/
AIDS among injecting drug users in the cities
of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu (2005) reported
on a convenient sample of 150 people
aged between 15 and 54 years (median 32
years) . Almost all of the interviewees were
polydrug users . Aside from injecting nubain,
the respondents also used shabu, cannabis
and cough syrup . Fifty-eight per cent of the
sample injected drugs more than once per
day and the majority (71%) of respondents
used needles and syringes previously used by
others . While almost all of the sample (93%)
cleaned shared injecting equipment, only 8
per cent used bleach and water . More than
half of the respondents (63%) were sexually
active in the month prior to the interview,
with the majority not using condoms with
any of their partners (70%) .
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Country profiles: Philippines