For over a month now there has been shocking news in the newspapers. It’s all because Thailand has a drug war. The police are going around killing the drug dealers. Every day, there are pictures of dead bodies on the front page. All of the people have been shot in the head. Over 1000 killed so far. That’s made me wonder if all those people are really drug dealers? What if they aren’t?

The government said that the police will get a reward every time they kill or catch a drug dealer. That’s made me think that what if some of the police who want the reward just killed someone they didn’t like and then planted the drugs in their pocket? That could happen, who knows?

Actually I know it is possible. About a year ago I was with a group of friends when some policemen stopped us. One of the policemen didn’t like one of my friends and when he was searching him he slipped some amphetamine pills into his pocket.

That is why I am a little angry whenever I hear on the news that every death in the last month was to do with drugs. Is that really true? Even if a few pills were found in their pockets do you really think they were drug dealers or did someone who didn’t like them kill them? It is strange with so many "murders" that the police don’t have many suspects. Either the police are not interested in looking for suspects or the police themselves killed that person.

Out of the thousand people that have died so far how many are innocent? Some of them might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time without knowing anything. For example: the other week, a nine-year-old boy was in a car with his parents. But he was shot and killed just because he was in the wrong place.

Anyway, the drug war in Thailand won’t finish until they have caught the police that are selling drugs. I don’t think it will be easy to catch them because they are police. They have the power to stop anything bad happening to themselves. They can just kill people that suspect them and then plant drugs on them. And then they will survive easily. They are corrupting our country just to get the money in their pockets.

Take the example of the traffic police. Some of you may know that I have been stopped many times by the police while riding my motorcycle. Usually they take my license and write me a ticket. I then have to go to the police station to pay the fine. But last month, I was riding my motorcycle when a policeman stopped me. He asked me if I knew how much to pay for not wearing a helmet. I told him 200 baht and then he told me to pay it to him. After I left the police box, I started to think that I shouldn’t have given him the money. That policeman took the money and then put it in his pocket.

This is only one example of a corrupt policeman that I have met. There are many more in this country for sure. What can the government do with them? I think they should sort out this problem first before going around killing people that mightn’t be drug dealers. What do you think? Is the Thai government doing the right thing?

Now I heard from my parents the other day that I am on the police blacklist. There is a policeman that doesn’t like me. That has made me very scared. With over 1000 dead already I could be next. Now I am very careful not to get stopped by the police and I am staying away from the places where I used to hang out with my friends. It looks like my past is trying to catch up with me. Every time I see a policeman I now just run.