The Police Regional Office-Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR) is stepping up monitoring operations to determine possible online selling of the illegal Thuoc Lao cigarettes or “tuklaw” in the region.
“We will do cyber patrolling for us to monitor if they also sell online here in Bacolod,” PRO-NIR Director Brig. Gen. Arnold Thomas Ibay said in a press conference on Monday, August 18.
He said the PRO-NIR remains relentless in its campaign against illegal drugs, especially in educating the youth on its ill effects. They are also urging the public to be vigilant against new kinds of prohibited drugs.
Ibay issued the reminder in the wake of the warning from Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III against smoking “tuklaw,” which could cause death like any other illegal drug with continued consumption.
“Tuklaw” cigarettes are among the illegal substances targeted by the PNP in its anti-illegal drug campaign.
Torre said the PNP Drug Enforcement Group is coordinating with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Dangerous Drugs Board to find out more about the prohibited substance.
According to the anti-drug authorities, “tuklaw” contains nicotine and a synthetic cannabinoid, which could lead to psychotic episodes and hallucinations, mimicking the effects of marijuana but more “potent and dangerous.”
Thuoc Lao is a tobacco plant grown in the mountains of Northern Vietnam and locally, it can either be smoked or chewed as part of their rituals, but the traditional way of smoking the tobacco is using a pipe called a bamboo bong.*PNA