The House Committee on Dangerous Drugs has received assurance from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that it is now going after the smugglers and distributors of the illegal Thuoc Lao cigarettes or “tuklaw” in the country.
00:00I do believe na maraming problema patungkol sa droga ang ating na-experience ngayon.
00:09And lately, meron po tayong nakita sa mga news reports, kagaya nung tuklaw, a cigarette.
00:23Na-laced po ito or originated from South America.
00:29It's a synthetic cannabinoid.
00:33So, nakita niyo po yung mga viral videos ngayon.
00:37Nangingisa yung mga bata, mga estudyante, kabataan.
00:42And mabigat po itong problema to kasi sigarilyo lang po ito.
00:47Kahit naglalakad lang po yung mga kabataan natin, pwede pong gamitin ito.
00:51And gusto ko lang pong malaman, Mr. Chair, kung ano na po ang update dito ng ating mga government agencies sa anti-drugs natin.
01:04And likewise, siyempre, yung source nito, yung mga entry points natin, and what are the agencies doing about it, Mr. Chair?
01:15Thank you, Representative Santos.
01:18Any of the agencies present who would like to answer the question?
01:23Pedea, sir?
01:25Thank you, Mr. Chair, and the honorable members of this committee.
01:29In connection with the query of the honorable member of this committee, yes, we had seen lots of incidents uploaded on YouTube and even in the news.
01:52That is a tuklau, or a black cigarette, is now in the Philippines, and this black cigarette is causing those seizures or even death of the user.
02:05A tuklau cigarette is, the source is, as we gather it, is from Vietnam.
02:15It is popular in Sapa, Vietnam, and even in Hanoi, Vietnam.
02:19And this tuklau is being offered to tourists.
02:27It is a sort of cultural practice or a sense of hospitality when it comes to tourists going to Vietnam.
02:38This tuklau is composed mainly, of course, of tobacco lip.
02:43A tobacco lip, that the nicotine content is 9%, as compared to the tobacco lip being used here in the Philippines, that its nicotine content is only from 1.5% to 3%.
02:59When we got the news of these tuklau, here in the Philippines, PIDEA and DDB initiated a laboratory research.
03:11And, yes, our laboratory found out that, aside from that 9% nicotine tobacco lip, it is also laced with synthetic cannabinoid.
03:29This synthetic cannabinoid is evident from the lip of that tobacco lip.
03:39And it appears that if you are not a smoker, especially heavy smoker, then you will be affected by the high nicotine content and the effect of that laced synthetic cannabinoid.
04:00And synthetic cannabinoid is, yes, DDB has listed it as a dangerous drug way back 2023 because this synthetic cannabinoid appeared in the Philippines way back 2019 or 2018.
04:23And it was first directed, but after that, we noticed no recurrence or entry of this synthetic cannabinoid.
04:35And that synthetic cannabinoid that entered into our country way back 2018 or 2019 is a different one.
04:45And here, the synthetic cannabinoid now being laced in that tobacco lip, in that tuklau cigarette or the black cigarette is a different one.
05:00We have already in our laboratory service of PIDEA, we use our confirmatory test machines, the GCMS, and it is confirmed.
05:11It has been confirmed that that component is synthetic cannabinoid.
05:18And, of course, we suit the help of the Department of Health, the UP Health Center, and even to the point that we asked assistance from our Singapore counterpart.
05:32And the result of the Singapore, from Singapore is that, yes, it is indeed a synthetic cannabinoid.
05:43So, for the information of everybody, that tuklau or that synthetic cannabinoid is now included in the DDB board regulation as a dangerous drug.
06:00And now, we can already, yes, pursue the source.
06:06And the investigation is ongoing to pinpoint the source of this black cigarette or tuklau.
06:14And with the regulation of the Dangerous Drugs Board, yes, we have sufficient legal basis to conduct an extensive follow-up investigation
06:26with the help of the NBI and the PNP, and we are now confident to say that, yes, we can arrest the possessors of those.
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