Vice Premier Lai In-jaw (
Ecstasy, the drug of choice among disco-goers, is often called the "happy pill" (
"The Cabinet has ordered a crackdown on the manufacturing and trafficking of ecstasy pills," Director-General of the Government Information Office Su Tzen-ping (蘇正平) quoted Lai as saying at a press conference after the meeting, adding that the Cabinet would conduct further studies on providing more leisure facilities for young people.
"To tackle joyriding gangs, the Cabinet has basically agreed to revise laws and to met out maximum penalties," Su added, "however, some ministers have also suggested the government should designate certain areas for legal motorcycle or car races."
Su said that Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen (
Su said that Lai had forwarded the resolutions made at a meeting between President Chen Shui-bian (
In his address, Lai said that the president had asked the NPA to adopt management and procedural reforms in a bid to maintain social order and increase public confidence.
The president also stressed the importance of crime prevention at the grassroots level, Lai said, and had instructed the NPA to review a scheme to subsidize local governments to organize community watches (
"The government has to continue reinforcing the crackdown on `black gold,' guns, drugs and theft in a bid to win back the people's confidence," Su quoted Lai as saying.
Meanwhile, as part of the strategy to tackle the ecstasy problem, the police are to set up an informant system, whereby pub owners would be able to report drug dealers and users.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs is also to investigate domestic chemical factories suspected of producing illegal drugs, Su said.
Lai concluded yesterday's one-hour discussion by saying that a meeting would be held on a regular basis to review investigations and offer possible solutions for crime eradication.
He urged related government agencies to put government policies into action and keep track of the effectiveness of those policies in their bid to restore social order.
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