Vice Justice Minister Lee Chin-yung (
Lee made the remarks while making a report at the Judicial Committee of the Legislative Yuan.
Democratic Progressive Party legislators Wu Ping-jui (吳秉睿) and Kuo Jung-tsung (郭榮宗) claimed that rampant drug abuse was the major cause of deteriorating social order.
The two lawmakers said that some of these "milder" forms of drugs, such as ketamine and FM2, are easily accessible and the government should revise the law to step up regulations on such drugs.
According to Lee, the drugs, which he described as less likely to be addictive and the use of which he claimed carried no criminal responsibility, constitute a loophole in the law that should be closed as soon as possible.
The DPP legislators also asked the Ministry of Justice to consider increasing the punishment for drug trafficking.
Meanwhile, PMMA, a new form of the drug ecstasy that is popular in Europe and the US, has made inroads into Taiwan, a doctor at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital, reported yesterday.
A doctor at the hearing noted that at a recent house party in Keelung, which was attended by a group of junior high school dropouts, two of the party-goers developed symptoms of intoxication after consuming two PMMA tablets.
One died on the spot and the other was rushed to hospital. The 16-year-old boy was in coma when he arrived at the hospital, and could not be resuscitated.
The doctor said the toxicity of PMMA is several times stronger than the average form of ecstasy available in the country and could easily lead to death.
He urged the government to list PMMA as a dangerous drug so that it could be more strictly regulated.
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