Crystal meth or SHABU as it's known in the Philippines...in "pursuit of happiness".

A UN drug report in 2012 stated that the Philippines has the highest rate of SHABU in East Asia. This is from an article in the Philippine Daily Enquirer dated March 27, 2012. It also disclosed that 2.1 % of Filipinos aged 16 to 64 were using it as one of the main drug threats in the country. In the same year, the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) in cooperation with the Philippine Normal University came up with a study that put the figure to be at 1.3 million of the population.

For months now, Filipinos locally and the world over are very much focused with the ongoing WAR ON DRUGS of PRESIDENT DUTERTE...as well as the well publicised "EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS" that is happening in MANILA. Statistically, reports have shown that it have reached more than 3,000 deaths, but not all were attributed to extrajudicial killings, but also from vigilantes and some are still under investigations.

As most of the heinous crimes in the Philippines are drug-related, I will aim to stay away from these extrajudicial killings and focused on this drug "SHABU", on what it can do to the user and perhaps try to understand how a person under its influence can do horrible things.

To the world, it is also known as ICE, GLASS, QUARTZ, CHRISSY, TINA, YABA etc. What it does, it creates a false sense of happiness and well-being, a rush of confidence, hyper-activeness and energy whose effect generally last from 6-8 hours, to a maximum up to 24 hours. IT IS ASSOCIATED WITH AGGRESSION, PSYCHOTIC BEHAVIOUR, creating dependence with reports of getting addicted from the first time of usage. (www.drugfreeworld.org)

One alarming effect is PARANOIA. In the drugfreeworld website, it states the stages when experiencing the effects of the drug. I'll go directly to the most dangerous 4th stage, TWEAKING. During this period, it states that an abuser loses his sense of identity, is often in a completely psychotic state and he exist only in his own world, seeing and hearing things. With hallucinations so vivid and disconnected from reality, he can become hostile and dangerous to himself and to others. News from the Philippines have reported an elderly who was killed by his grandson who seemed to have seen him as a dangerous flying animal and proceeded to butcher him. Sadly, the boy's father was almost attacked too when trying to intervene. The said animal sounded like a character in POKEMON!!

Also called a "CLUB DRUG", its use is widely spread. From the statistics in the Philippines, users are still young and getting hooked. Perhaps if it's incorporated in the school curriculum, kids as young as 12 can be educated against its use or maybe younger? For the 1.3 million in 2012, it's already too late. Rehabilitation is the only thing that can help them. Reports have shown that SHABU can damage the heart and brain and can be permanent. President Duterte in one of his speeches, he mentioned 3 million users combined with other drugs. This is a huge number of criminality that needs to stop.

Imagine the number of victims that are drug-related, their families too were victimised. Babies, kids, elderly women were raped by their fathers, own family members, neighbours, too many to count. When will they stop? Even the users' families are victimised. And the users, are they victims too? Perhaps, from the greedy drug lords and protectors but this is another story.

SHABU can make a user happy initially, but what a price to pay!