The Bhutanese Leading the way.
After an alarming number of arrest and seizure related to substance use in 2023, the numbers have comparatively come down this year showing that the campaign is having an impact.
Seizure and cases have dropped and arrests have become less. Last year more than 200,000 pharmaceutical drugs were seized, and this year it is less than 100,000.
As per statistics from Royal Bhutan Police (RBP), this year till 31 July there were 1,120 cases related to substance use registered with the arrest of 2,050 individuals.
From the arrest, more than 1,000 constitute adults, 900 are youths and more than 200 are juvenile.
As always Thimphu is leading both in terms of cases and arrests followed by Phuentsholing.
Substance wise, the most abused substance is cannabis and pharmaceutical drugs followed by solvents.
In 2023, there were 3,669 individuals arrested in 1,920 drug cases while in 2022 a total of 1,557 individuals were arrested in 721 drug cases.
In terms of seizure, pharmaceutical drugs, with tramadol capsules SP Plus, are the highest as RBP seized almost 45,000 capsules.
Other substance includes solvents which are mostly thinner and correction fluid.
Most of the minors and youths are involved in solvents use since the solvent – thinner is a legal commodity, which can be easily bought, and the youth end up abusing it.
According to officials the higher use of solvents also shows the impact of the drug campaign as there are less SP+ tablets available and so some youths are resorting to thinners.
RBP is in constant effort advocating shop owners and constructions sectors not to sell solvents to minors or any individuals without a concrete purpose.
