Large Numbers of 5-Year-Olds Found to be Trafficking and Abusing Narcotics in Thailand by Phairath Khampha 30 November 2001 Thailand has almost 2.6 million drug abusers aged five to 68, including 2.4 million methamphetamine users, according to an official health survey released on November 28, 2001. Particularly worrisome was a finding that 4 per cent of the country's five-to-nine-year olds had already started to experiment with the consumption and sale of methamphetamine pills, or ya ba, the report said. Of the total number of abusers (890) 530 were found to be drug addicts, 821,963 of whom were addicted to methamphetamine, 26,656 to marijuana, 19,074 to heroin, 6,593 to glue-sniffing and 5,977 to the stimulant plant krathom. The survey was conducted between June and September by 20,000 health officials, who visited all 70,000 villages in the country. It was the most intensive study of the drug problem in Thailand undertaken to date. The Northeast was found to have the highest number of substance abusers with 797,297, followed by 477,270 in the South, 413,954 in the central region, and 399,671 in the North. In Bangkok, 566,163 people were found to be drug abusers, most of whom abused methamphetamine. The highest number of drug addicts were found to be in the 15 to 24 age group, though those using opiates were mostly aged 25 to 59. Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said the spread of methamphetamine now threatened every village. She instructed all 10,000 health stations around the country to implement proactive measures aimed at rehabilitating addicts.