A recent study showed that 94 people died from overdoses of “new street drugs” last year, a significant surge from four deaths in 2014, while 55 people have died this year as of last month, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said in a statement last week on its efforts to combat drug abuse.
“New street drugs” caused no deaths in the nation from 2010 to 2012, while one person died after overdosing on a street drug known as “Meow Meow” and four people died of new street drug overdoses in 2014, the six-year study conducted by the Ministry of Justice’s Institute of Forensic Medicine found.
However, since last year, new street drugs have been flooding the illegal market, contributing to record annual numbers for overdose-related deaths over the past two years, the bureau said.
On Dec. 7, a young woman, surnamed Kuo (郭), was admitted to a hospital while unconscious and later died following an overdose of “narcotic coffee powder” — various narcotics mixed with either coffee or milk tea powder that are often disguised as commercial ground coffee — that she allegedly consumed at a days-long party at the W Hotel in Taipei.
Asked about the ongoing criminal investigation into Kuo’s death, a prosecutor said that the case was the “tip of the iceberg” of new street drug abuse by the nation’s youth, adding that many users are ignorant of the severe damage consumption of such drugs poses to their health.
According to the study, street drug users tend to be young: The average age of users who died of street drug overdoses last year was 28.4, with the average rising to 30 for this year as of last month, the bureau said.
The nation’s law enforcement agencies have achieved some success curbing the use of ketamine, partly due to Chinese authorities listing hydroxylamine hydrocloride — the main ingredient — as a controlled substance, the bureau said.
Police believe that the nation’s illegal drug market is experiencing a ketamine shortage, as prices peaked at NT$3 million (US$93,023) per kilogram before falling to about NT$1 million per kilogram, the bureau said, adding that amphetamine, a cheaper and more readily available narcotic, has replaced ketamine as Taiwan’s most frequently traded illegal drug.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has listed the policing of illegal drug use as a priority for her agenda to “rebuild the social safety net,” and police in July conducted a series of operations that led to the identification of 525 suspected drug dealers — 130 of whom were arrested — and the confiscation of 1.48 tonnes of illegal substances as part of a multiagency “war on drugs” led by the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office.
The office said it is pushing district prosecutors to rigorously enforce their authority to confiscate illegally obtained assets from criminal enterprises and equipment used to commit crimes, adding that depriving criminals of their illicit wealth and equipment is crucial to prevent recidivism.
The National Police Administration has implemented rules to double rewards for police officers who are involved in the apprehension of drug rings that target adolescents as part of its efforts to counter drug use by the nation’s youth.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai