SHABU and marijuana remain the two top favorite drugs used by substance abusers in the country although the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) said it has discovered an attempt by a Chinese syndicate to produce the much cheaper ‘liquid shabu’ in the underground market, PDEG director, Brigadier General Eleazar P. Matta said.

The official said that as far as they are concerned, shabu still remains the no. 1 choice of drug abusers in the country followed by marijuana, Ketamine and liquid marijuana.

Last year, the Dangerous Drugs Board chaired by Secretary Catalino S. Cuy said that shabu remained the leading illegal drug abused in the Philippines, citing a 92-percent ‘total admission’ followed by marijuana with 65 percent.’

“Mono-drug use is still the nature of drug-taking, the administration routes are inhalation/sniffing and oral ingestion,’’ the DDB reported.

Compared to mono-drug, polydrug use is the use of more than one drug or type of drug at the same time or one after another.

Polydrug use can involve both illicit drugs and legal substances, such as alcohol and medications.

The DDB likewise said that the center admissions consist of 90.06 percent males, 9.08 percent females and .85 percent from the LGBT community.

The male-to-female ratio is 10-to-1 with a computed mean of 33 years old and a median age of 34-years-old with the youngest admission for the year under review is 13-years-old and the eldest is 72-years-old, it added.

Brig. Gen. Matta said that very recently, they uncovered the presence of ‘liquid shabu’ already being marketed online in Metro Manila by Chinese-led syndicates.

“The demand will be higher and the price will be higher during the yuletide, thus they are introducing shabu in liquid form in the country.

The drug could be produced in a small room of a condominium, manufactured on a small scale, that’s why they are much cheaper, mas lesser ang tama, hindi masyadong nakakabaliw. In short, nag-iinovate po sila,” Brig. Gen. Matta said.

He said that it took them almost two months to discover the presence of ‘liquid shabu’ or methamphetamine with a much lesser neuro-toxic effect and whose ingredients are readily available in the market and can be purchased online.

He said that their operations in Bulacan and Metro Manila, which led to the discovery of the ‘liquid shabu,’ is also a big challenge to all other law enforcement authorities.

Since he took over as PDEG director last May, Matta said they have recorded only one case of an armed drug personality being killed in a gunfight with a PDEG operative.

The official said they have received a number of information about alleged mayors involved in illegal drugs, all of which are now being verified by the unit with the help of other allied law enforcement agencies.

The official reported to PNP chief, General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil that two of the Chinese nationals–one of them a 35-year-old male and the other a 32-year-old female–were arrested in a buy-bust in Brgy. Don Bosco, Parañaque City around 11:30 p.m. last Wednesday.

Recovered from the duo were an estimated 100 grams of Ketamine valued at P500,000.

The 3rd suspect, described as playing a ‘key role’ in a major drug trafficking syndicate operating in the metropolis, was arrested in a sting in Bgy. 76, Zone 10, Pasay City around 6:10 p.m. Wednesday.

According to Brig. Gen. Matta, confiscated from the 26-year-old male Chinese were 546 grams of suspected shabu, 643 grams of suspected Amphetamine Hydrochloride and 114 grams of suspected Ketamine with an estimated value of P7.693 million.