Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday rejected a media personality’s accusation that his call for addiction treatment to take place before “observation, rehabilitation or compulsory rehabilitation” — as stipulated by the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) — was a call for the decriminalization of drugs.
At a public hearing early last month on amendments to the act, Koo called for pre-trial substance abuse treatment to precede “observation, rehabilitation or compulsory rehabilitation.”
Koo told the hearing that such treatment would help to prevent further dependence on illegal substances resulting from a drug user’s alienation from society due to incarceration.
“Judicial intervention alone will not solve problems of addiction or substance abuse. Putting drug users in jail serves no effective purpose other than to keep them out of sight,” Koo said.
“Even worse, jailing them would interrupt their education, work, social interactions and lives, making their reintroduction to society more difficult, and in the end would reinforce their psychological dependence to substances and cause an increase in drug-related crimes,” he added.
Internet celebrity-turned media personality Lucifer Chu (朱學恆), in an article published on Tuesday by online media outlet ETtoday said that Koo “not only spoke against making ketamine, a category 3 drug, a category 2 narcotic — which would allow police to secure search warrants — but he also advocated the decriminalization of the use of category 1 and 2 narcotics — including heroin, opium, cocaine, morphine and amphetamines — with no compulsory rehabilitation or jail time for users whose addiction has been cured.”
Chu described Koo as an “idealistic legislator-at-large who has never been exposed to second-hand ketamine smoke or been robbed or harmed by a drug-using criminal.”
Chu, whose Facebook page has more than 454,000 followers, cited messages from three people who have, in one way or another, been hurt by drug users.
One man said ketamine smoke from his neighbor has long filled his son’s bedroom.
A rank-and-file police officer said he was “nauseous” after seeing Koo’s proposals, adding that police efforts to curb drug abuse have constantly been restricted by government initiatives to curb the power of police.
One teenage girl told Chu she lost her father in a car crash, in which the driver who caused the incident was under the influence of a category 3 drug, adding that: “According to [the driver’s] mother, she could not have physically confined her son.”
Chu lambasted lawmakers at the hearing who called for “lighter punishments” for drug users.
“What kind of a war on drugs is taking place when [lawmakers] propose shitty motions urging for less punishments and for the decriminalization of all kinds of substance abuse?” Chu asked.
Koo yesterday said that pre-trial treatment “is not tantamount to the decriminalization of drugs.”
“Amendments to require pre-trial treatment would not affect penalties for drug users,” he said.
“To lower the number of drug users, the core problem that must be addressed is drug addiction and dependence, but what we are doing now is going straight to incarceration,” Koo said.
“Not only does jail do little to solve the problem of addiction, it might allow users greater access to drugs, due to collective incarceration,” he added.
The legislator said a significant amount of evidence shows that simply jailing drug users does not help solve drug problems.
“Addressing the root cause is difficult, while it is easy to just put people in jail,” Koo said. “Pre-trial treatment would just be a first, but necessary, step” to solve the drug problem.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
STRICTER ENFORCEMENT: Taipei authorities warned against drunk cycling after a sharp rise in riding under the influence, urging greater public awareness of its illegality Taipei authorities have issued a public warning urging people not to ride bicycles after consuming alcohol, following a sharp rise in riding under the influence (DUI) cases involving bicycles. Five hundred and seven people were charged with DUI last year while riding YouBikes, personal bicycles, or other self-propelled two-wheelers — a fourfold increase from the previous year, data released by the Taipei Police Department’s Traffic Division showed. Of these, 33 cases were considered severe enough to be prosecuted under “offenses against public safety,” the data showed. Under the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), bicycles — including YouBikes and other
RSS