On the War Against Drugs
Published for Philippine readers.
The sale and trade of illegal drugs have been a problem haunting the Philippines for decades past. Numerous governments have tried and failed to combat this cancer within the country. Recent efforts by President Duterte, though effective to a degree, have resulted in a bloody 5,526 deaths according to the government, with the Commission on Human Rights estimating the number to be as high as 25,000 dead because of the inciting drug war.
After his election in 2016, the president launched a hardline campaign against “illegal drug personalities,” claiming the Philippines had become a “narco-state.” The result of this campaign? Thousands of reports of extrajudicial killings. The disturbing amount of deaths is enough to question the effectivity of the government in solving the problem of drugs in the Philippines. In this short essay, I propose two possible solutions to solving the country’s drug problem.
Focusing resources on combatting the right drugs.
Whenever there is a discussion regarding the drug problem in the Philippines, a recurring idea is the legalization of marijuana. Why waste resources in monitoring the country for marijuana use when the same resources can be used on locating dealers that trade in drugs that are actually dangerous?
According to a 2014 statistic by the Dangerous Drugs Board, 35.77% of drug cases admitted were cannabis or marijuana users. This is a huge chunk of the drug “problem” that can be solved simply by legalizing a “harmless” drug.
If the Philippines legalizes cannabis and recategorizes it as a recreational drug, free-market competition would dominate black market sales and result in the complete disappearance of the marijuana black market. This way, the government can focus more resources on combatting actual dangerous drugs such as Methamphetamine Hydrochloride (Shabu).
Now, many might have a problem with legalizing marijuana given the taboo surrounding it, and years of the government categorizing it as an illegal drug. However, there is precedent for this. Marijuana has been legalized in numerous countries such as South Africa, Canada, Georgia, and Uruguay.
Fifteen states in the U.S. have also legalized the drug, and, with Joe Biden’s election, American drug policy might see a change in the next few years, as the new administration currently leans toward Cannabis legalization. It must also be noted that these countries all have experienced a decrease in illegal black-market drug trade since its legalization. Once legalized, the regulation of marijuana is doable, given the current infrastructure available in the Philippines.
Decriminalize drugs.
For decades now, the Philippines has been experiencing this drug epidemic. Each government has continuously and generously pooled its resources to combat drug use in the country, with mixed results. Most recent is Duterte’s drug war. While decreasing drug use by a small percent in the country overall, the campaign has also managed to incur massive losses of human lives numbering in the thousands. Enough to beg the question of whether the criminalization of drugs is the right approach.
In 2001, the country of Portugal made a radical step regarding its approach in fighting the drug war. The administration had decriminalized all drugs. This did not mean that drug use was now a free-for-all affair. No, restrictions in its use still existed. However, fundamentally, what the Portuguese government did was shift how it viewed drug users-from criminals who were to be incarcerated and put in prison to mentally-ill patients who needed to be rehabilitated. This change in drug policy proved to be effective.
In the span of ten years from 2001 to 2011, the number of patients in drug rehabilitation facilities increased by over 60%. Drug-related deaths have fallen to five times lower than that of the E.U. average. And, counter-intuitively, over-all drug use has plummeted.
In recent years, other countries have joined Portugal in this new approach, including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Czechia, and most recently, the state of Oregon.
This policy of decriminalizing drugs has proven to be effective. However, years of drugs use being considered taboo, and a criminal offense has managed to alienate most of the Philippine public to this radical drug policy. We must see that the decades-long policy in fighting against the drug epidemic has not been effective. We must turn to a new approach and start to view drug users less like criminals but rather as patients to be helped.
The legalization of marijuana and the decriminalization of drugs are both policies that the Philippine public is largely against. However, we must open our eyes and see that current government policies are not working. We must turn to a more effective approach. An approach that will create a society that does not ostracize and condemn drug users to prison time, but one that seeks to ultimately help them in their recovery. Of course, these goals are easier said than done. However, with a united citizenry and incorruptible leaders to guide them, forging a better, drug abuse-free Philippines is not a pipe dream.
