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It means our police are either involved in the killings or they are very inefficient." But, according to Thaksin, critics of the drug war have lost sight of the "big picture." In fact, the PM has been resolute in his defense of the campaign, drumming up support by resorting to maudlin appeals to protect future generations. "You should ask yourselves if you’re concerned about your children," Thaksin implored during his weekly radio address. "You have been caring for them since they came into this world." The campaign’s detractors say they also care for Thailand’s youth but feel the social costs of the drug war have been incalculable. "When these children lose their parents, who’s going to feed them?" asks Chome Saenyakul, an ethnic Lisu activist. Many ethnic minorities, Chome argues, have few socioeconomic opportunities to study, work and travel, so they have little choice but to turn to drugs, despite understanding the dangers. "[The government] has put up all the billboards and have told everybody that drugs are bad, but they haven’t done anything to give them an opportunity." It is not the first time such a complex matter has been reduced to a simple black and white issue, says Chaiyan Rajchagool, a lecturer in the Faculty of Social Science at Chiang Mai University. "No one objects to drug suppression. But if you raise questions, you can be blamed as someone who supports the drug dealers." Thai Defense Minister Thammarak Isarangukra na Ayudhya has done just that, telling the local press that critics are in the drug dealers’ pockets. "The drug traders have a lot of money and they can hire anyone to write an article to attack the government." Chaiyan sees historical parallels with this Manichean approach to Thailand’s problems, referring to instances when people disputed large-scale development projects, championed citizenship rights for ethnic highlanders, and disagreed with the government during the Communist purge. "Many poor farmers didn’t even know who Marx was, but fled their villages in fear of officials or because they had problems with local authorities, and then were labeled as Communist." Chaiyan has first-hand experience with such tactics to defame opponents of the government, having been accused of disloyalty to the state before for defending the rights of ethnic highlanders. "Now, if you are Thai, you should not say anything bad about your country. In the last 40 years, people in power have been using these kinds of nationalistic tactics to keep others silent." He adds that the war on drugs reflects the government’s concept of democracy as majority rule where the minority must sacrifice their rights and keep quiet on populist issues. Amid the silence, however, the death toll continues to mount. And some worry the longer the public remains mute, the longer extra-judicial practices will be tolerated and the worse Thailand’s drug problem will become. Thus far, the campaign has focused only on short-term success by eliminating the drug dealers’ foot soldiers. The second phase, to target the drug kingpins and the 700 state officials thought to be involved in drug activities, is now underway. Critics are not impressed, but instead question the logic of parading anti-drug credentials at home, while befriending the Burmese military junta, guardians of the world’s largest amphetamine producing gangs. Ethnic Chinese and Wa drug producers in Burma have announced their territories in the Golden Triangle would be opium-free by 2005. But most have already begun shifting production from opium to amphetamines. And with the blessings of Burma’s regional commanders the pills flow freely to Thailand, which has been dubbed the world’s number-one user of speed by the UN International Narcotics Control Board. "If peace doesn’t happen in Burma," Chaiyan explains, "then Thailand will face this drug problem endlessly." Others point to the limited scope of the anti-narcotics campaign and say a more comprehensive approach is needed to eliminate the drug scourge. Such a holistic solution, domestically and regionally, would include not only cooperation among authorities, say Impect’s representatives, but among people at the grassroots level as well. In the meantime, however, ethnic highlanders and others adversely affected by the drug war continue to live in fear. They place little hope in the ability of the authorities to consider the big picture and help them plan a better future for Thailand’s ethnic groups. "The government’s development projects are not in accordance with the ethnic peoples’ way of life," charges Ahpae. "The government doesn’t understand their ways, and they don’t even want to know. They use the hill-tribes to sell and lure tourists and then turn around and blame them for the country’s drug and environmental problems." "Besides," she adds, "they are tackling the issue at the tail, not the head." Now that the second phase of the crusade is underway, it remains to be seen if the authorities can net the big fish. But even as the police take aim at the kingpins, Chaiyan holds little hope for the ultimate success of Thailand’s war on drugs.