Student's Book – Dec 2009 (5.9mb) - The Curriculum Project

The War on Drugs: On 14 January 2003, Thaksin launched acampaign to rid “every square inch of the country” of drugs withinthree months. Other politicians had made similar promises and usededucation, sports and peer pressure programs to do so. Most of theseprograms were seen as failures.Thaksin’s program was much more direct. He changed thepunishment policy for convicted drug addicts. In addition, he settargets for the number of arrests and drug seizures provinces shouldmake each month. Those who met targets were awarded while thosewho did not were threatened with punishments.According to the Narcotics Control Board, the policy was effectivein reducing drug consumption, especially in schools, because thepolicies increased the market price of most drugs.The international community, however, criticised the war on drugs because it resulted in humanrights abuses. According to Human Rights Watch, in the first three months of Thailand’s Waron Drugs, 2,275 people were killed. Human rights critics say that most of the deaths occurredwithout trial or fair judicial process.exercisereadingfor detail,classifyingA. What was Thaksin’s main goal?B. Fill in the table below with information from the previous text. For each policy, thetext provides some reasons why it was good (success) and some reasons why itwas bad (criticism.) After collecting the information, decide for yourself. Put a tick( ) in the “your opinion” box if you support the policy or a cross ( ) if youdisagree with the policy.PolicyUniversalHealth CareEconomicPoliciesAims/ObjectivesPrograms Successes Criticisms Your Opiniona. 30b per visitb. SubsidisedHIV drugs.a. Economicbenefits actuallycame from othersourcesb.War on DrugsDecrease druguse and sales inThailandKEY WORDSelectoral fraud (n) – illegal activity during an election in order to affect the overall resultlèse majesté (n) – disloyalty to or a crime against the monarchytax evasion (n) – the purposeful failure to pay taxes72