The street prices of shabu in the country continue to balloon and are now pegged at around P10,000 to P15,000 per gram, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency confirmed yesterday.
This figure showed an increase of 400 to 700 percent in the values of the dangerous drug as compared to its street price of P2,000 per gram last year.
PDEA director general Senior Undersecretary Dionisio Santiago took this rapid rise in prices of shabu positively, saying it could be attributed to scarcity in supply of the illegal drug in the local market that is also indicative of the success of government’s anti-narcotics campaign. “The street price of shabu now ranges from P10,000 to P15,000 per gram. This is roughly around five to almost eight times higher than its street price early last year, which was P2, 000 per gram,” he said.
Santiago said this price range of shabu not only applies to the metropolis but also in almost all provinces nationwide. He cited the value of shabu in Iloilo as the highest among the provinces at around P15,000 per gram. The current value of shabu is also higher by five to eight times than that of cocaine, the other illegal drug that it used to imitate which now costs P5,000 per gram.
The PDEA chief also said this steady increase in the price of shabu started around middle of last year when PDEA shifted its operational strategies and focused on “target rationalization and intelligence-driven operations.” He cited the dismantling last year of a total of nine clandestine laboratories and 13 chemical warehouses and five more shabu laboratories earlier this year.
“Good operational strategies and the cooperation of PDEA with its foreign and local counterparts also resulted in the neutralization of about seven shabu transnational syndicates last year. This year, three new trans-national drug groups have emerged, adding to the two remaining from last year. Of the five targets, two were already taken down,” he said.
Santiago furthered that because of scarcity in the supply of shabu, street pushers now resort to either selling Ephedrine, a controlled precursor in making shabu, or mixing minute amounts of shabu with either toilet deodorant (albatross), alum (tawas) or other substances that resemble shabu. He said these products are equally hazardous or even probably worse than shabu.
The PDEA chief also admitted they are expecting possible market shift from shabu to cocaine and marijuana.
“Since last year, we have already been laying down intelligence ground work in unveiling the players of these alternative drugs. Just recently, we arrested some major distributors of cocaine and ecstasy, including Richard Sevilla Calayag on Aug. 14 and the group of Richard Santos Brodett; Jorge Jordan Joseph and Joseph Ramirez Tecson on Sept. 20,” he recalled.
He believes it is best to take advantage of the scarcity of shabu in local market and maximize demand reduction efforts in schools and churches.
“We can only do so much on the supply reduction side, depending on how the public can supports to solve this national malady,” he added as he appealed for more cooperation from the public in the war against illegal drugs.