Abstract:
The objectives of the research were to 1) study the effectiveness of drug prevention and suppression policy implementation in the upper northeastern provinces, 2) study the factors affecting the drug prevention and suppression in the upper northeastern provinces and 3) propose guidelines to improve the effectiveness of drug prevention and suppression policy implementation development in the upper northeastern provinces. This research using mixed methods research which combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The qualitative research was conducted by in-depth interviews of 42 key informants consisting of 2 executives of the provincial drug subjugation power center, 20 village/community leaders and 20 people from Muang district, Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom, who played key roles in promoting and supporting the drug policy into practice. They were selected by purposive sampling technique. The 10 participants of a group discussion were purposively selected from working group staffs in the provincial drug subjugation power center. The data were analyzed by analytic induction and interpretation. The quantitative research was conducted by gathering data from 350 respondents following Taro Yamanes formula, from a population of 2,790 residents who were 1,142 people of Muang district of Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom provinces and 1,648 policemen from provincial police stations in Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom provinces. The sample was selected by multi-stage sampling and a 5-level rating scale questionnaire with a reliability at 0.90 was used as the research tool for data collection. The data were analyzed using the following statistics: percentage, mean, standard deviation and stepwise regression analysis. The research findings were as follows: 1) The effectiveness of drug prevention and suppression policy implementation in the upper northeastern provinces consisted of 3 aspects and, was, overall at a high level (x̅ = 4.20, S.D. = 0.50). Considering each aspect individually, it was found that the aspect of sustainability creation in long-term problem solving was at the highest, followed by the aspect of drug violence reduction and the aspect of confidence building to the people. The aspect of sustainability creation in long-term problem solving was a continuation of the promotion of public relations for the creation of awareness in the people. The aspect of confidence building to the people suffered from an insufficient budget allocation from the government. 2) The factors affecting the effectiveness of drug prevention and suppression policy implementation in the upper northeastern provinces consisted of 6 aspects that ranked by partial regression coefficient from high to low as follows: (1) addicted persons problem solving (β = 0.138) (2) suppression /law enforcement (β = 0.130) (3) immunity/protection creation (β = 0.127) and (4) management (β = 0.122) (5) international cooperation (β = 0.113) and (6) practical policy (β = 0.090). These six aspects explained 78.20 percent (R² = 0.7820) of the variation of the effectiveness of drug prevention and suppression policy implementation in the upper Northeastern provinces at a significance level of 0.05. 3) The proposed guidelines to improve the effectiveness of drug prevention and suppression policy implementation in the upper northeastern provinces development consisted of 8 principle actions. They were (1) The public relations campaign to create awareness amongst the public should continue. The campaign should raise awareness of drug prevention through all forms of media. (2) The budget allocated to the prevention and suppression should be adequate. The budget should be increased to ensure that the operation of the unit runs adequately and continuously. (3) There should be continuous efforts to reduce the amount of drugs on the streets. Drug addictions should be found in order to get them adequate treatment in the system. (4) Cooperation with foreign countries should be sought by collaborating, efforts to prevent, suppress and intercept smugglers transporting drugs across the country will be more successful. (5) Arrests and punishments should be done by strictly following the law. The legal process should also be accelerated. (6) Management should be integrated by mobilizing efforts to jointly drive prevention and suppression. (7) Strengthening aversion to illegal drugs should be done by providing a better understanding of their dangers to the general public, including students of all levels in schools and educational institutions, and (8) Implementation of the policy should continue with the help of the government's policy on drugs in order to achieve the set targets and control drugs effectively.