[420 Girl]

The Philippines - Baguio City Mayor Reinaldo A. Bautista, Jr. has asked law-enforcement agencies in the Cordillera to stop conducting public burning of marijuana and destruction of other illegal drugs complete with media coverage in this mountain resort city in a bid to promote an image of the city as a drug-free place.

“No more free open air sessions and photo ops,” the mayor said, reacting to the frequent conduct of ceremonial marijuana burning at Melvin Jones grandstand in Burnham Park by police and anti-narcotics operatives.

The city’s chief executive said the public burning of marijuana and the destruction of other illegal drugs create a bad impression of the city, which is said to be the source of the prohibited hemp being grown in the hinterlands of the Cordillera.

Bautista said the public burning of marijuana creates a psychological effect among people in the global village that marijuana is abundant in this city.

He asked other city officials not to participate in the public burning of illegal drugs because these event make it appear that the prohibited stuff is coming from the city.

The Philippine Dug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) office in the Cordillera, together with various police units and the city’s Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC) usually hold the ceremonial burning of marijuana complete with media coverage at Burnham Park in full view of many residents as well as tourists.

The marijuana plants burned during the ceremonial burning were used as pieces of evidence during court proceedings.

During the Alabang Boys controversy, the world-famous town of Sagada, Mountain Province was mentioned as a source of marijuana which the group allegedly sold in Metro Manila.

Bautista said as the educational center, the city must make sure that it can protect the people from the proliferation of vices such as the use of prohibited drugs.

Baguio has been chosen as one of the pilot areas for the conduct of the controversial random drug testing by the Department of Education for both elementary and high school students.

Although none of the students tested positive for drugs, the mayor said, the first impression of the people was that there is an easy access of drugs in the city.

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