links RA 84 91 Drug Addiction

Drug Addiction
 links RA 84 91 Drug Addiction

Does the Philippines have a drug problem?

The prevalence of illegal drug use in the Philippines is lower than the global average, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
President Rodrigo Duterte has claimed that the country could become a "narco-state".
 What is a narco zone? links RA 84 91 Drug Addiction

It is in the sierra or countryside where an identity of drug trafficking was created and then consolidated once it crossed into the urban sphere. Narcoculture has
been defined as a code of conduct and lifestyle for those that participate in the "narco world."

How many drug addicts are there in the Philippines?

In his inaugural State of the Nation Address, Duterte claimed that data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency shows that there were 3 million drug addicts
two to three years ago, which he said may have increased to 3.7 million.

Abstract
When Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte assumed office in 2016, his government launched an unprecedented campaign against illegal drugs. The drug problem in
the Philippines has primarily been viewed as an issue of law enforcement and criminality, and the government has focused on implementing a policy of criminalization
and punishment. The escalation of human rights violations has caught the attention of groups in the Philippines as well as the international community. The Global
Health Program of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a non-profit network of 50 universities in the Pacific Rim, held its 2017 annual conference in Manila.
A special half-day workshop was held on illicit drug abuse in the Philippines which convened 167 participants from 10 economies and 21 disciplines. The goal of the
workshop was to collaboratively develop a policy statement describing the best way to address the drug problem in the Philippines, taking into consideration a public
health and human rights approach to the issue. The policy statement is presented here.

Background
When Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte assumed office on June 30, 2016, his government launched an unprecedented campaign against illegal drugs. He
promised to solve the illegal drug problem in the country, which, according to him, was wreaking havoc on the lives of many Filipino families and destroying the future of
the Filipino youth. He declared a “war on drugs” targeting users, peddlers, producers and suppliers, and called for the Philippine criminal justice system to put an end to
the drug menace

According to the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) (the government agency mandated to formulate policies on illegal drugs in the Philippines), there are 1.8 million current
drug users in the Philippines, and 4.8 million Filipinos report having used illegal drugs at least once in their lives. More than three-quarters of drug users are adults
(91%), males (87%), and have reached high school (80%). More than two-thirds (67%) are employed. The most commonly used drug in the Philippines is a variant of
methamphetamine called shabu or “poor man’s cocaine.” According to a 2012 United Nations report, the Philippines had the highest rate of methamphetamine abuse
among countries in East Asia; about 2.2% of Filipinos between the ages 16–64 years were methamphetamines users.

The drug problem in the Philippines has primarily been viewed as an issue of law enforcement and criminality, and the government has focused on implementing a
policy of criminalization and punishment. This is evidenced by the fact that since the start of the “war on drugs,” the Duterte government has utilized punitive measures
and has mobilized the Philippine National Police (PNP) and local government units nationwide. With orders from the President, law enforcement agents have engaged in
extensive door-to-door operations. One such operation in Manila in August 2017 aimed to “shock and awe” drug dealers and resulted in the killing of 32 people by police
in one night.

Duterte’s war on drugs is morally and legally unjustifiable and has created large-scale human rights violations; and is also counterproductive in addressing the drug
problem. International human rights groups and even the United Nations have acknowledged that the country’s drug problem cannot be resolved using a punitive
approach, and the imposition of criminal sanctions and that drug users should not be viewed and treated as criminals. Those critical of the government’s policy
towards the illegal drug problem have emphasized that the drug issue should be viewed as a public health problem using a rights-based approach (RBA). This was
affirmed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on the 2015 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illegal Trafficking when he stated, “…We should increase the
focus on public health, prevention, treatment and care, as well as on economic, social and cultural strategies.” The United Nations Human Rights Council released a
joint statement in September 2017, which states that the human rights situation in the Philippines continued to cause serious concern. The Council urged the
government of the Philippines to “take all necessary measures to bring these killings to an end and cooperate with the international community to pursue
appropriate investigations into these incidents, in keeping with the universal principles of democratic accountability and the rule of law [16].” In October 2017, the
Philippines Dangerous Drug Board (DDB) released a new proposal for an anti-drug approach that protects the life of the people. The declaration includes an implicit
recognition of the public health aspect of illegal drug use, “which recognizes that the drug problem as both social and psychological.”

Declaration
“Manila Statement on the Drug Problem in the Philippines”

Gathering in this workshop with a common issue and concern – the drug problem in the Philippines and its consequences and how it can be addressed and solved in
the best way possible;

Recognizing that the drug problem in the Philippines is a complex and multi-faceted problem that includes not only criminal justice issues but also public
health issues and with various approaches that can be used in order to solve such;

We call for drug control policies and strategies that incorporate evidence-based, socially acceptable, cost-effective, and rights-based approaches that are
designed to minimize, if not to eliminate, the adverse health, psychological, social, economic and criminal justice consequences of drug abuse towards the goal of
attaining a society that is free from crime and drug and substance abuse; links RA 84 91 Drug Addiction

.... As a community of health professionals, experts, academics, researchers, students and health advocates, we call on the Philippine government to address the
root causes of the illegal drug problem in the Philippines utilizing the aforementioned affirmations. We assert that the drug problem in the country is but a
symptom of deeper structural ills rooted in social inequality and injustice, lack of economic and social opportunities, and powerlessness among the Filipino people.
Genuine solutions to the drug problem will only be realized with the fulfillment and enjoyment of human rights, allowing them to live in dignity deserving of human
beings. As members of educational, scientific and health institutions of the country, being rich and valuable sources of human, material and technological resources,
we affirm our commitment to contribute to solving this social ill that the Philippine government has considered to be a major obstacle in the attainment of national
development.

Conclusion
The statement of insights and affirmations on the drug problem in the Philippines is a declaration that is readily applicable to other countries in Asia where approaches
to the problem of drug abuse are largely harsh, violent and punitive.

As a community of scholars, health professionals, academics, and researchers, we reiterate our conviction that the drug problem in the Philippines is multi-dimensional
in character and deeply rooted in the structural causes of poverty, inequality and powerlessness of the Filipino people. Contrary to the government’s position of treating
the issues as a problem of criminality and lawlessness, the drug problem must be addressed using a holistic and rights-based approach, requiring the mobilization and
involvement of all stakeholders. This is the message and the challenge which we, as members of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, want to relay to the leaders,
policymakers, healthcare professionals, and human rights advocates in the region; we must all work together to protect and promote health and well being of all
populations in our region.
References:
1. Xu M. Human Rights and Duterte’s War on Drugs. Council on Foreign Relations; 16 December, 2016. https://www.cfr.org/interview/human-rights-and-dutertes-war-drugs. Accessed December 20, 2017.
2. Gavilan J. Duterte’s War on Drugs: The first 6 months. Rappler; 2016. https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/rich-media/rodrigo-duterte-war-on-drugs-2016. Accessed January 18, 2018.
3. Holmes O. Human rights group slams Philippines president Duterte’s threat to kill them. The Guardian; 17 August, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/17/human-rights-watch-philippines-president-duterte-threat.
Accessed January 18, 2018.
4. Almendral A. On patrol with police as Philippines battles drugs. New York Times; 2016. 21 December 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/21/world/asia/on-patrol-with-police-as-philippines-wages-war-on-drugs.html. Accessed
January 18, 2018.
5. Bueza M. In Numbers: The Philippines’ ‘war on drugs.’ Rappler; 13 September 2017. https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/145814-numbers-statistics-philippines-war-drugs. Accessed January 18, 2018.
6. Mogato M and Baldwin C. Special Report: Police Describe Kill Rewards, Staged Crime Scenes in Duterte’s Drug War. Reuters; 18 April, 2017. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-duterte-police-specialrep-idUSKBN17K1F4.
Accessed January 18, 2018.
7. Al Jazeera. Thousands demand end to killings in Duterte’s drug war; 21 August, 2017. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/thousands-demand-killings-duterte-drug-war-170821124440845.html Published 2017. Accessed January
18, 2018.
8. Worley W. Harrowing photos from inside Filipino jail show reality of Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs. The Independent; 30 July, 2016. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/filipino-philippines-prison-jail-
presidentrodrigo-duterte-war-on-drugs-a7164006.html. Accessed January 18, 2018.
9. Baldwin C, Marshall ARC and Sagolj D. Police Rack Up an Almost Perfectly Deadly Record in Philippine Drug War. Reuters; 5 December, 2016. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-duterte-police/.
Accessed January 20, 2018.
10. Amnesty International. Philippines: The police’s murderous war on the poor; 31 January, 2017. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/01/philippines-the-police-murderous-war-on-the-poor/. Accessed January 18,2018.
11. Human Rights Watch. Philippines: Duterte threatens human rights community; 17 August, 2017. https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/17/philippines-duterte-threatens-human-rights-community. Accessed January 18, 2018.
12. Andadolu News Agency. EU: Human rights worsened with Duterte’s drug war. Al Jazeera; 24 October, 2017. www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/eu-human-rights-worsened-duterte-drug-war-171024064212027.html. Accessed January
18, 2018.
13. Holmes O. Rodrigo Duterte pulls Philippine police out of brutal war on drugs. Reuters; 2017b. 11 October, 2018 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/12/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-police-war-drugs. Accessed January 18,
2018.
14. International Drug Policy Consortium. A Public Health Approach to Drug Use in Asia; 2016. https://fileserver.idpc.net/library/Drug-decriminalisation-in-Asia_ENGLISH-FINAL.pdf. Accessed April 5, 2018.
links RA 84 91 Drug Addiction
 links RA 84 91 Drug Addiction

Ana Marie R. Roque