Proposal to test street racers' hair for drugs
A PROPOSAL to have street-racers undergo random drug tests using strands of hair will be proposed to the Justice Ministry soon, Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) director-general Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand said.
The test would help determine if the racers’ recklessness could be related to drugs, Pornthip told a seminar held by the CIFS and the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection (DJOP) yesterday. The proposal will first be approved by DJOP before it is submitted to Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya for consideration.
The test, deemed 100 per cent accurate even a month after drug abuse, has already been used on up to 100 juveniles over five months and will be proposed for use on racers before they are admitted into department’s facilities, she said.
This is because some juveniles were found using ketamine while granted leave from remand to visit their hometowns, she said, adding that the abusers choose not to use methamphetamine because it is easier to detect. Of the 100 juveniles, 22 tested positive for drug abuse, of whom 14 were reportedly inhaling ketamine, she said.
Admitting that the hair test, which can identify up to 20 narcotics, would be more expensive at Bt2,000 per centimetre of hair, she said the cost could be controlled by careful planning.
DJOP said most juveniles in detention were drug suspects and that this group was rising every year. Last year, there were 36,081 juvenile-related cases, 16,681 of which were drug-related.
