Mom with HIV turns dealer

Mom with HIV turns dealer

BANGKOK (AP): Police have arrested a woman who turned to
amphetamine-trafficking to feed her three children.

Police said yesterday that Ratchada Chenchom had lost her
factory job in Lamphun, in northern Thailand, after her employers
and co-workers discovered she was HIV-positive.

Ratchada, who said she had contracted the disease from her
husband, who died three years ago, said she had no choice but to
turn to selling amphetamines to support their children.

Ratchada was arrested in possession of 279 amphetamine
tablets, police said. Amphetamine use is a mushrooming social
problem in Thailand. The government recently stiffened the
penalties to be as severe as those for heroin trafficking, which
can bring the death penalty.