Phatthalung officials destroy kratom trees

[enquirewithin]

Bangkok Post Sunday May 27, 2007

(now not available but mirrored at http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/art...okpost4682.htm)

Base of drug thought to be used by rebels

By Assawin Pakkkawan

Authorities have destroyed 30 kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) trees growing on local farmland in this province to prevent abuse of the plant which can be used to produce an illicit drug believed to have been used by insurgents in the deep South.
Phatthalung governor Sakchai Chaichue on Friday led a team of officials and volunteers to Nasong village in Tamot district where about 30 kratom trees, some of which were over 100 years old, were growing on villagers' farmland.
The trees were cut down with the consent of their owners.

A provincial official said kratom leaves were mostly wanted by drug dealers for young people in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. Separatists lured some youths into taking a cocktail made from boiled kratom leaves and a chemical substance to boost their courage and stamina before launching attacks, according to the source.

Kratom trees were once widely grown in Phatthalung province as the leaves were used for herbal medicine.
But when the government classified the leaves as an illegal narcotic, many tree plantations were destroyed. However, some trees can still be found on local farms.

Recently, more than 1,000 kratom trees were destroyed in a raid on a three-rai plot of land in Kong Ra district by a team of border patrol officers, local officials and drugs suppression officers. Yesterday, 11 teenagers, five of them from the deep South, were caught drinking the kratom cocktail in a house raid in Tamot district, police said. Police seized kratom leaves, cough syrup,marijuana, carbonated drinks, hookahs, 80 bullets of an M16 assault rifle and two bullets of a 9mm pistol