A new, elected government was finally installed in Bangkok and has already made its position clear on issues that many were expecting to be coyly brushed under the carpet, at least until the government had settled in comfortably.

From his PM's office in the capital, Samak declared that Thailand would, once again, wage its war on drugs and drug-lords. In his characteristic, outspoken way the new PM revealed to the BBC that he would use the same tactics as his predecessor, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in the military coup in 2006.

"I will not set a target for how many people should die," said Mr Samak told the BBC in February.

The BBC, however, goes on to point out that: "While Mr Thaksin's 2003-2004 campaign enjoyed popular support and did, briefly, curb Thailand's rising drug problem, it resulted in some 2,500 deaths."

We Dare

Not too far from Bangkok, and not too long after PM Samak's declaration, in March came a spate of high-profile drug busts on our own Phuket. The war, in effect, has begun and has spread its tentacles far beyond the central capital.

For years, drugs have been one of the main causes for arrests on Phuket, according to the Provincial Police crime statistics.

Now, attractive prize-money is being offered to people as incentive to to provide information about drug-dealers. 100,000, 50,000, 20,000 baht prizes are being offered for reliable information that leads to arrests, depending on how high the arrested figure on the wanted lists of the Provincial Police.

There are plans for even more prize-money to be allocated for information on criminals with lower profiles, and soon, ‘wanted' posters may be adorning the official halls.

Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Pol. Col. Paween Pongsirin, tells the Phuket Post that: "we have made many arrests and offenders belong to various ranges in age-groups.

"We have have been allocating a lot of resources into sourcing information, but are also doing more than just arresting offenders. The Phuket Provincial Police have joined hands with other provincial officials to encourage the schools to educate students about staying off drugs.

"Moreover," he reveals,"we have projects to prevent specific people who are identified as risk-groups from using drugs. Youths, for example, are a serious risk-group so we have launched dedicated efforts to educate and forewarn them. We take teenagers who are already addicted to meet and gain guidance from experts, who take care of them and provide them with much-needed knowledge and counseling, along with guidance on how to get off the drug habit."

Projects aimed at keeping youngsters away from drugs will be arranged at the Phuket non-formal education centre, the first such will be held on 25 March 2008. This first seminar will include teenagers who represent the the risk-groups in each school and other teenagers from the Phuket Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection. A total of about 200 people will participate in the project named: ‘School Dare'."

Kathu Police Superintendent Pol. Col. Krissak Song-moon-nark of Kathu Police station believes that Patong area is more a place for selling drugs, not producing them. "So the amount of drugs - most of which are ya bah or amphetamine - is not so much, the highest amount that Patong police have seized is about 500 pills. He is reluctant to name the price of the haul,"We wouldn't want to price them, I would say that they are worthless because if I say they are valuable more people may want to break the law and sell drugs to tourists."

"Most people who indulge in these illegal drug activities are young adults. Most brokers are Thai and they sell drugs to teenagers and tourists," reveals K. Krissak."We make about 3--4 arrests a month.

K. Krissak also told the Post that the Kathu Police station, along with Patong Municipality has a"Community Police" project, where police volunteers take anti-drug campaigns to schools, and educate children about the dangers of using drugs. Certificates are awarded to students who complete these courses. Sainamyen school, Kalim School and Baan Morn School of Patong have already been incorporated into this project.

"It is not easy to change people's minds once they are grown-up. We have to reach the children first. We also want them to feel safe and secure with their police forces, and us going to teach them in schools is also about building trust and faith. When they trust us, they are more willing to speak up about things and are more open to giving us information when we ask for it. In fact, in some recent cases, we have made arrests because of information we have gathered from this project, which has been introduced since January 2008," K. Krissak said.