To show the government's resolve in stamping out the...

To show the government's resolve in stamping out the drug menace, the Senate passed a bill that seeks to punish with a lethal injection anyone caught with at least 99 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride, popularly known as shabu.
Under the present law, the death penalty is imposed only on those found with at least 200 grams of shabu.
The proposed Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 was approved on the second and final reading after only two days of deliberation.
"This bill seeks to provide more teeth to the campaign against the menace of illegal drugs," Senate President Franklin Drilon said.
The proposed measure also seeks to impose the death penalty on drug users found with at least 500 grams of marijuana or 10 grams of Ecstasy, LSD, opium, morphine, heroin or cocaine.
Under the 30-year-old Dangerous Drugs Act, capital punishment is meted out only to those in possession of at least 750 grams of marijuana.
A total of 18 senators voted in favour of the bill. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., an opponent of the death penalty, voted against the measure but later withdrew his vote.
Senators Joker Arroyo, Francis Pangilinan and Ralph Recto abstained from the voting, saying they favoured the bill but opposed the death penalty.
"Had we voted for the bill, it would appear we are also for the death penalty that we can never adhere to," Arroyo said.
Sen. Robert Barbers, principal sponsor of the measure, stressed that the trafficking and use of illegal drugs constituted a heinous crime that should be meted the capital punishment.
Barbers said the Senate and the House of Representatives would soon meet to reconcile their versions of the bill and said he expected the final version to impose the death penalty on possession of a much lower quantity of illegal drugs.