PDEA notes decline in rugby use in W.Visayas
There is a decrease in the use of rugby solvent among youngsters in Western Visayas.
This, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) noted following the ban of over-the-counter sale of rugby and other toluene-based contact cement (TBCC) without the required 5% mustard oil additive.
PDEA regional director Paul Ledesma said that with the mustard oil, sniffing of solvent is far from being attractive to the olfactory senses of a person.
According to an online report, mustard oil gives contact-based cement a pungent smell, which will discourage people from sniffing and becoming addicted to them.
This oil has a strong sinus-irritating aroma, like that of horseradish or wasabi, a hot nutty taste, and is often used for cooking
Mustard oil has about 60% monounsaturated fatty acids of which 42% erucic acid and 12% oleic acid, it has 21% polyunsaturates of which 6% is the omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid and 15% omega-6 linoleic acid and it has 12% saturated fats.
In Iloilo City, Ledesma said that there are still hardwares that sell rugby without the required 5% mustard oil in it.
“We thought of conducting buy bust operations against them but that’s something that we are still studying,” he added.
He added that in areas where there are shoe repair shops, lumber stores, and similar business that need rugby, rugby addicts could easily acquire one.
Ledesma cited the recent arrest of two youngsters caught sniffing rugby at the shoreline of Brgy. Boulevard, Molo, Iloilo City.
Barangay tanods managed to arrest Michael Sta. Ana, 20, of Brgy. North Baluarte, Molo and Ceasar Mendoza, 18, of Boulevard, Molo.
Because of the dim surroundings, tanods failed to arrest a good number of their companions.
Mendoza admitted to be taking rugby out of peer pressure.
He claimed that it’s his way of “pakikisama.”
On the other hand, it was not Sta. Ana’s first arrest for the same offense.
But this time around, he professed not to do it again claiming the difficulty in spending days while behind bars.
The two suspects are now detained at the lock-up cell of Iloilo City Police Station 5 pending the filing of charge against them for violation of Presidential Decree No. 1619 (Penalizing the Use or Possession or the Unauthorized Sale to Minors of Volatile Substances for the Purpose of Inducing Intoxication or in any Manner Changing, Distorting or Disturbing the Auditory, Visual or Mental Process).
