In a bid to curb drug and chemical addiction, a Quezon City councilor filed an ordinance seeking the regulated sale and distribution of rugby and other solvent-based adhesives and substances in the city.

Aside from being eyesores, Councilor Dorothy Delarmente of the city’s first district, said that mendicants and street urchins inhaling the elements have suffered temporary and prolonged insanity distorting their judgment and prompting them to commit lawlessness.

Under the proposal, Delarmente said that hardware shops, bookstores and other establishments selling the solvent-laced items must maintain logbooks indicating the names, addresses and other pertinent details of the buyers.

As section 2 of the proposed measure prohibits the possession of rugby and similar items for the purpose of inhalation to induce intoxication section 4 of the proposal disallows the retailing of solvent-based products while section 5 seeks regulated steps on its sale.

Delarmente said that violators of the proposal will be fined P5,000 or be imprisoned to one year with the possible revocation of the permit to operate.

She noted that the parents and guardians of minors caught inhaling rugby and other dangerous chemicals will also be penalized.

Under the amended version of the Quezon City anti-drug abuse ordinance a special ward for solvent users will be maintained at the city’s Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Payatas where a technical working group will be formed to formulate the regulations of the proposal.

As a show of compassion to the victims, Delarmente said that her proposed ordinance which is in the third and final reading requires the mandatory rehabilitation of the violators to pave the way for their possible re-integration with the society.

Complaints disclosed teenagers and some streets children are seen sniffing rugby and similar chemical substances inside transparent plastics bags in full public view. Most of them are found on the stretches of Epifanio delos Santos Avenue particularly in the center island of cloverleaf in Balintawak where homeless families have made the area into their own community.