Category Archives: War On Drugs

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

This is contrary to a claim in a May 13, 2024 article in The Manila Times by columnist Rigoberto Tiglao

Claim: Former president Rodrigo Duterte is not named in the documents in the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into his administrations war on drugs.

Why we fact-checked this: The claim can be found in a May 13 article in The Manila Times by columnist Rigoberto Tiglao, titled Highly paid lawyer gathering dirt vs Duterte. The article alleged that lawyer Kristina Conti, who is also secretary-general of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers National Capital Region, was being paid to malign Duterte. (Conti, in a Facebook post, denied Tiglaos allegation.)

Tiglao claimed that former president Duterte was not named in the ICC investigation documents, writing: Conti and the Yellows have repeated in Hitlerian fashion that the ICC case is investigating the former president and [Senator Ronald] de la Rosa for these crimes. This is fake news. It is still an investigation of the Philippine situation, and there is no mention of Duterte in all of the ICCs documents on the case, which are labeled only as an investigation of the Situation in the Republic of the Philippines.'

The facts: Dutertes name has been mentioned in several ICC documents on the drug war case, which also state Situation in the Republic of the Philippines on the title page:

ICC investigation: In 2018, then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda opened a preliminary examination of the drug war killings. A full investigation was opened in 2021 and later temporarily suspended upon the Philippine governments request under Duterte. The probe resumed in July 2023. (TIMELINE: The International Criminal Court and Dutertes bloody war on drugs)

The ICC has not yet identified subjects or respondents, as this will only happen in a pre-trial stage, or the next stage after investigation. However, the prosecutors reports have named Duterte in the killings that appear to have been committed pursuant to an official State policy.

Under the Duterte administrations war on drugs, at least 6,252 individuals were killed in police operations, as recorded by the government, as of May 2022. Human rights groups, however, say the number is between 27,000 and 30,000 if people killed in vigilante-style executions are counted.

Previous related fact-checks: Rappler has previously fact-checked claims about Duterte and the ICC investigation.

Rappler has also fact-checked false claims by Tiglao in his columns:

Percival Bueser/ Rappler.com

Percival Bueser is a graduate of Rapplers fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rapplers research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rapplers fact-checking mentorship program here.

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. You may also report dubious claims to #FactsFirstPH tipline by messaging Rappler on Facebook or Newsbreak via Twitter direct message. You may also report through our Viber fact check chatbot. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.

View original post here:

FACT CHECK: Duterte named in ICC documents on Philippine drug war case - Rappler

While in power, former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte ordered the murder of thousands of people without trial.

Journalist Patricia Evangelista chronicles the leader's bloody 'war on drugs' in her memoir "Some People Need Killing."

Today, On Point: The dark legacy of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

Patricia Evangelista, journalist. Author of the recent book Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country.

Part I

MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: Patricia Evangelista is a trauma journalist and a former investigative reporter for the Philippine news company Rappler. Beginning in 2016, Patricia reported on former Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte's so called 'War on drugs.' And we will be talking about what Patricia saw during that time, so as a warning, we may actually also discuss some graphic descriptions of violence and therefore this hour may not be appropriate for all listeners.

But Patricia shares her story about her life during that time and about her country during that time in the new memoir, Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country.

Patricia, welcome to On Point.

PATRICIA EVANGELISTA: Thank you for having me.

CHAKRABARTI: You start the book with a young 11-year-old girl named Love. And you describe how when you meet her, you kneel down and you tell her your name in order to open up at least some kind of rapport between you and her.

And then Love tells you the story of what she had experienced. Can you tell us her story?

EVANGELISTA: I met her when she was very young. She was 11 years old. She was small for her age. All skinny brown legs and big dark eyes. And she was born Lady Love, that was her name. But, nobody called her Lady, everyone called her Love, and only her father called her Love. Just Love. And she lived in the second floor of a shanty with her mother and her father and her many little siblings, and there were many of them.

And one night, late in the night, two men wearing dark masks kicked down the door, and Love's father was asleep. One of the men with a gun stood over Love's father and said, Positive. Positive, he meant, positive for being a man on the list of illegal drug users or dealers. Love's father tried to get up.

But there was a baby asleep on his chest, so he fell back down again. And then he turned his head, he looked at Love, and he said her name. He said, Love. And that was the last word he said before the bullet cracked across his temple. So the baby woke up. And the baby was covered in blood, so he was wailing.

And then Love's mother dropped to her knees. She tried to proffer the sheet of paper that said she had already surrendered, that she had changed her life. And she begged for her life. But the gunman stood in front of her and lifted the gun. It was Love, who stood between the gunman and her mother.

And it was Love who stood with a barrel of the gun just inches from her forehead. And it was Love, all skinny brown legs and big dark eyes, who swore at the gunman and told her to kill her instead. So the gunman left, and they didn't, they weren't gone for long. When they returned, they stood in front of Love's mother, and then raised the gun.

The gunman said, "[Translation] We are Duterte." And then he emptied the magazine. And Love's mother died on her knees.

CHAKRABARTI: What was Love's demeanor like when she told you what had happened to her parents?

EVANGELISTA: She was quiet. But, when you're a trauma reporter, you don't read much into demeanor very often, because people absorb trauma very differently. Sometimes they weep, sometimes they're angry, sometimes they refuse to talk.

With Love, she was shy. She was a little shy. And, but, she was not unwilling to speak. Interviews like this, you don't really ask about feelings. You can't. Because to ask someone, "How do you feel?" in the aftermath of traumatic events is uncomfortable and difficult. And a little unfair. Because of course you're broken, of course you're traumatized.

So what you do instead is you ask facts. What was your father wearing? How big was the room? At what moment did the gunman raise his arm? Because those things, they're factual, you don't have to dig very deep into them. And then when you do what I do, you ask the question, so you can build the scene in your head. So that you can walk into the room yourself again and see the gunman and see the color of the shoe and see how the door opens so that you can tell people the story.

CHAKRABARTI: Did she understand? Not just what, obviously, she knew what had happened to her parents, but did she understand the supposed reason why or where the order had come from?

EVANGELISTA: In the case of Love, the killers were vigilantes. They were not policemen who would, in the aftermath, as is in most cases, would say her father fought back.

As with other little girls who saw their fathers die. In Love's case, it was two men wearing masks. She was aware that there was a threat. Before her parents died, she was very afraid. Because while she had never seen her father use drugs, there were rumors that he was using, and they were living in a place where anyone could be a snitch.

That's why her parents surrendered. In the Philippines after the election of Rodrigo Duterte, people who were suspected of being drug dealers or drug addicts or drug users were invited to surrender to the government and promised they would never sin again. So they're called surrenderees. And allegedly, if you are on the surrendered list you are monitored for your behavior.

There's a larger list. It's called the drug list or the narco list or depends on who you're talking to. These are people who are suspected of using and dealing drugs. And people who are included in that list can be sourced from other surrenderees. Or your next-door neighbor or someone who doesn't like you who decides to put your name anonymously on a drop box.

Or in the case of one man who was killed in Manila, his neighbors voted that he was the worst drug suspect in town. So the police conducted a raid. It's what killed him. Love was not unaware of what was happening. She was trying to convince her parents to leave, but they didn't believe there was a major threat.

CHAKRABARTI: How many interviews like that did you have to do?

EVANGELISTA: I couldn't tell you if I tried, dozens, possibly a hundred. I really don't know, because in the course of one night, in the height of the drug war, there were killings every night. There were nights when there were 9, 16, 27, and I didn't call for all of them because they were happening across the country.

And while there were a handful of us in the night shift, photographers and reporters from across Metro Manila, there was no way we could hit every crime scene. Particularly for myself, I'm a long form narrative investigative reporter, I need to see the whole picture. The rest of the reporters might be peeling out to go to the next scene, I would stay because I have to complete the picture.

So in the course of one story, let's say Love's story or someone else's story, I would be doing three, four interviews. If I were present at the crime scene, which I wasn't in Love's case, I would be interviewing. I would be interviewing the neighbors. I would be interviewing the families. I would be interviewing anyone who I could possibly talk to across the next week or across the next few months.

So I can't give you a number, but there was a lot.

CHAKRABARTI: You write in the book about having to stand over corpses at 2 a.m. And how hard it is to not just process but describe what that is like. Can you describe what that's like?

EVANGELISTA: I can't quite describe what it is. Because when I stand over a body, I'm a reporter.

It's a job. And part of that job is to ground yourself so that you are able to complete the image in your head. I can tell you what the color of the shoe is, or what the tenor of the scream was, but I can't tell you how I felt. Because I felt nothing. That is also the job. I'll tell you instead how I ground myself, so that you can see how it operates.

I work with the night shift, as I mentioned, and it was an honor to work with them. It's photographers and reporters, some of them foreign correspondents, some of them locals, and all of us would stay outside the press corps office of the Manila Police District. Unlike most of them, I didn't go every day because I had to go to the funerals and to the field and to find the sources, so I would go maybe twice a week.

And when it happens, sometimes you get an alert while you're sitting in the press office, or sometimes while you're outside smoking, you see the homicide car spill away and the scene of the crime operatives. So you follow them. Or the longer the war, the more sources we had, families who we had interviewed would tell us about their neighbor or their friend or standing at the corner of the road seeing another body being pulled out.

You go to the scene, and you see the body in the ground. You see the yellow police tape around it. You see the cops counting the bullets. For me, what I would do, was I would ask the same questions every night. Was it a drive by, a salvaging, a body dump, a buy bust? Was the killer a cop or a vigilante? Were the hands bound?

Was their head wrapped in tape? Was the body stuffed into the bag? Was there a sign beside the body? Was there a gun on the ground? So I went through a checklist. I hit every point, one after the other, confirm the street corner, interview the investigating officer, sidle up to the bystanders, find out if they know the man's name.

But what I learned with the drug war, as well, was that there was a value in standing still and just listening for the screaming. Because that's what you know where the family is. You walk up to them, you apologize, you condole, you keep your voice low and your questions short, and then you find out what happened, and then what happened next.

Part II

CHAKRABARTI: I should note that Patricia did much of this reporting at the time working for Rappler, the online Philippine news source co-founded by Maria Ressa, who later won the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, Patricia, President Duterte was elected on promises to execute this war on drugs in the Philippines.

He was very clear about how he would supposedly rid the Philippines of both drug dealers, gangs, and the users, as you mentioned. You quote him in the book as saying, "Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts. I'd be happy to slaughter them." Here's his actual voice.

This is from a rally in 2016, telling his supporters that he had killed criminals himself, and here's what he said.

PRES. DUTERTE: My campaign against drugs will not stop until the end of my term. That will be six years from now. Until the end of my term, that will be six years from now. Until the last pusher and the last drug lord are [slashing gesture across throat.]

CHAKRABARTI: That sound that he makes at the end is accompanied by Duterte making a slashing gesture across his throat. How bad was the drug problem in the years before Duterte was elected?

EVANGELISTA: The Philippines, like any other country, does have a drug problem, but the most, right before President Duterte was elected, the survey the most recent survey conducted was that the Philippines had half, less than half the global average when it came to drug use. And a lot of those users were one-time users, a lot of the users also used marijuana. Although what concerned the president mostly was the use of meth. He claimed that anyone who had used meth for more than a few months would no longer be people.

And he said anyone who believed him, or who refused to believe him, that the effect of addiction was a terrible thing. He said, I will give you the drugs themselves. Feed it to your children. Watch them become monsters. He created an enemy, he exploited every grievance, every fear, fueled by decades of failed expectations, and he gave it a name.

He called it the drug scourge. And he said he would kill the drug dealers, and he would kill the drug addicts, and he will protect the future of your children.

CHAKRABARTI: I want to talk about his own history in just a moment, Patricia, but you write in detail about Filipino history. And I wonder if you could talk about what you think it was or is about the country's colonial and post-colonial history that allowed this violent rhetoric and then action by President Duterte to actually resonate with enough Filipinos that they put him into office. Because this war on drugs happened in a democracy, right?

So was the Philippines already a nation so repeatedly traumatized that a president saying, I will kill every last drug dealer and user, regardless of their age, in this country that made that, didn't make it seem out of the norm.

EVANGELISTA: We are a violent country, but you are correct. We have been traumatized for hundreds of years, and we're not good with reckoning with our trauma.

Even in near history in the '70s and '80s, we had the martial law dictatorship. We called it the conjugal dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, and they were overthrown in 1986, and that's when the democracy came back to the Philippines. And just very recently, we elected as President,Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.

His vice president is Sara Duterte. Just to demonstrate how little we are able to hold our leaders accountable and how much of a failure there is in national memory. It is the same with years of colonization and it is the same with years of trauma that we don't account for. So when we elected Rodrigo Duterte, we may have elected a man who said, I will kill them all.

But we also elected a man in an excess of hope, that this man was different, that he felt the same rage as everyone else, and that when he came to power, life would be different for all of us who have been shamed, who have been ignored, who have been told that we just have to take it and swallow it and roll over.

Yes, all of it mattered. Colonization mattered, poverty mattered, predation mattered, a failure of accountability mattered. All of it mattered. And then, after years of terrible things happening, the terrible became ordinary. And then we applauded.

CHAKRABARTI: Duterte also frequently called himself an ordinary Filipino. That he understood deeply and knew the sentiment of Filipinos living far outside of Manila, for example. In the eyes of the international community, perhaps we did not pay sufficient attention to someone like Duterte prior to him becoming president.

So I would actually love to hear from you some of a detailed history of who he was, and in fact, how he ruled even before becoming the leader of the entire nation. So first of all, was he an ordinary Filipino?

EVANGELISTA: He does like to say that often. I am just an ordinary Filipino. I am one of you. Occasionally he says I'm just an ordinary killer.

And he said he was with the poor, he understood the poor. But Rodrigo Duterte was a governor's son. And he grew up in Davao City, in a relatively comfortable life. He went to private schools, his mother was well known in the city, was in fact a very civil minded individual who read, led protests against the dictatorship.

So certainly, he was not poor, he was not very much ordinary, but he was, as most people have described him, something of a troublemaker. He liked women, he liked guns, he was described as a troubled son of privilege. But he eventually became a lawyer, he went to school, in part, in Manila, and did get into some trouble there.

He admits to having shot a frat friend in the hallways of his old school. He was still allowed to graduate. They thought it would be a failure of the system if someone so promising were kept away from becoming a lawyer. So he became one. When he went back to Davao City, he worked in the prosecutor's office. According to some sources, with some pull from his mother to his father's friends.

And then the revolution happened in 1986. Corazon Aquino became president after the dictator, the martial law dictatorship. And across the country, people were being put in as officers in charge of cities. Because an election would come in the aftermath of the revolution. They wanted, as vice mayor for Davao City, where Rodrigo Duterte comes from, his mother. Soledad Duterte, but she said she would prefer it was her son who sat in office. So Rodrigo Duterte became vice mayor of Davao City on the heels of the revolution, of the peaceful revolution that overthrew a dictator. And he said he supported that revolution. After that, he ran as mayor. He won and ran again and again and again.

More than two decades of Duterte leadership in Davao that included his sons and his daughters. Until now, actually, the mayor of Davao is also a Duterte. But while all this was happening, Davao was notorious for being a hotbed of communism and crime. That people would be killed on the streets randomly.

The right-wing rose, vigilante groups, and Duterte allegedly, again, supported these vigilante groups that took down the communists. When the communists, when the communist threat lessened in the '90s. A new threat rose. They call it the Davao Death Squad.

CHAKRABARTI: Yeah. Patricia, do you mind if I just pause here for a second because there's a lot of detail that you bring in the book about this period in particular.

So first of all, about the sort of the communist groups in Davao. As you write, and this is important to understand, because it really lays the groundwork for what happens later. Yes, there were these vigilante murders essentially, death squads that were organized to purge what was described as a communist insurgency in Davao, but you point out in the book that action was and please correct me if I'm wrong, but supported by then President Corazon Aquino and the United States?

EVANGELISTA: Yes. The answer, according to Corazon Aquino, to violence from the communists, is the sword of war. At that time, it was supported by Corazon Aquino, it was supported by the U.S. State Department. We were friends with America, and so across the country, this sort of violence was supported. In fact, one of the vigilante groups in Davao City, one of the more violent ones, called the Alsa Masa, the masses arise, was cutting quite a swath in Davao, and Corazon Aquino went to Davao City and said she would, was proud to be standing in the birthplace of the Alsa Masa.

CHAKRABARTI: They were so effective that the so-called communist threat was reduced. But as you said, then under Duterte's mayoral rule of Davao, there emerges a group called the Davao Death Squad. And reporters at the time wrote, and you quote them in the book, that the repertoire of warfare drawn from both military counterinsurgency as well as communist guerrilla methods and practice was perfected during the dictatorship and proved equally effective in a democracy.

And Duterte himself said, I don't mind us being called the murder capital of the Philippines, as long as those being killed are the bad guys. From day one, I said henceforth, Davao will be very dangerous for criminals. It's a place where you can die any time. Now, the extent of how these death squads operated.

Did he ever once admit that there was a direct connection between him and the actions of the Davao Death Squad?

EVANGELISTA: Rodrigo Duterte says a lot of things. Sometimes he will say, "I am the death squad." Sometimes he'll say, "I have guilt." Under oath, he says, I don't know of any Davao Death Squad. I'm not responsible for a so-called Davao Death Squad.

Perhaps it's the gangs, perhaps it's the criminals. Many things have been said about his responsibility. Certainly, he denies it, that he had anything to do with it. And then when he does say, he does threaten. He says it's a mere rhetoric. He said very often in Davao, as you just quoted, exactly, what he also says to the rest of the country.

If you break the law, if you commit crimes, if you are a danger to the children, my city, my country, I will kill you. That is not a rare thing for him to say. So the death squads, as far as we can tell with investigations, as well as whistleblowers, was composed of former Sparrow Units from communist groups.

Sparrows are assassins, assassin teams working with the communists. They also included former members of the Alsa Masa or other vigilante groups. And they also included former or current police officers.

CHAKRABARTI: Now, regarding the former or current police officers that were in these death squads in Davao.

You tell the story of Arturo Lascaas, who was the police master sergeant in Davao. Duterte's right hand man there denied any complicity in the violence that was happening there, but had a massive 'come to Jesus moment,' is how you call it, in February 2017, where he gave a press conference, and then thereafter admitted to killing after killing after killing, in detail.

And would you tell us the story of one of the descriptions he gave of people he was told he and his group were told to root out and kill. It was about a group of Chinese drug dealers.

EVANGELISTA: Right. You're right that it was a 'come to Jesus moment.' It was a pretty literal come to Jesus moment. He had a nightmare, he was sick, and then he dreamt of Jesus and woke up and he changed.

Arturo Lascaas was allegedly Duterte's right hand man, at least when it came to the Davao Death Squads. And he had a number of stories to tell in the aftermath of deciding to be a whistleblower. He said that he was asked to kill eleven Chinese drug dealers. He only killed nine because he assigned two to someone else.

He was also asked to kill a kidnapper, except when they stopped the van that was carrying the kidnapper, the alleged kidnapper. He was there with his wife, with his son, and with his father-in-law, and with his household help. Allegedly, he and the other member of the death squad had gone to the mayor at that time, Mayor Duterte, and said, "What do we do?"

And the suggestion of the other person was, "Erase them." So they were erased. They were killed. And Lascaas stood outside the door. And listened to them shot. He had tried to make a case for the young boy to be allowed to live, but he lost the argument. So he listened, as they were all killed and then the bodies were buried, and he came back a few days later and poured oil over the dead.

And one of them, as you said, was a four-year-old boy. And you write that their wallets, bags, and a pair of children's shoes were also burned. There's much more to discuss, to understand not only why all this happened in the Philippines, but the long-term impact on the Filipino people as well. So we'll talk about that in just a moment.

Part III

CHAKRABARTI: I want to play a little bit more of what Duterte himself has said in the past Patricia, if I may. He has actually admitted to killing people himself. So this is from a 2015 interview that he did with Maria Ressa, whom I mentioned earlier was one of the co-founders of the Filipino news site, Rappler.

And at the time, Duterte was the mayor of Davao City, as we have been talking about. And he said quite clearly to Maria that he believed criminals have no redeeming reason to live.

DUTERTE: There's no redeeming factor in killing people, robbing them, raping them, robbing them, and.

RESSA: So no qualms about killing killers?

DUTERTE: Yes, of course. I must admit that I have killed. Three months early on I killed about three people.

CHAKRABARTI: Patricia, in your book you write about how Duterte is very specific about not just saying I have killed, but I have killed people. You write that he's very particular about using that noun. What does that tell you?

EVANGELISTA: Rodrigo Duterte is careful with language, even as he is very verbose with language. It's not so much the use of people or the use of kill. He doesn't like to use the word murder. For him, or he claims, murder means killing a bound man or killing a man on his knees begging for his life. That's why he denies that any extrajudicial killings happened during his term.

He denies that he supports murder. He supports killing, to kill legally. He says they will have to perish. He will say they will have to be wiped off the face of the earth. He would say I would like to do it myself, shove them out of helicopters, let them drown in a ship in the Pacific, hang them with barbed wire.

But he would tell his police in public. You don't have to kill illegally, because you can kill legally. And he says, I declared a war. What is wrong with that? He says, what is wrong with saying, [Translation] I will kill for my country. His claim is that killing is justified because these are not people.

CHAKRABARTI: And he's completely unapologetic about it. Every bit of concern that anyone within the Philippines or in the international community raised about human rights violations, he overtly said he didn't care. For example, here is an interview that he did with Al Jazeera English about 100 days into his presidency.

So he's now the leader of the entire nation. And this is in 2016. And he claimed that the Philippines had millions of drug addicts and said that he could not help it if vigilantes basically sometimes took justice into their own hands. And he also said, as I mentioned, he did not care about human rights.

DUTERTE: You destroy my country. I'll kill you. If you destroy our young children, I will kill you. That is a very correct statement. There is nothing wrong in trying to preserve the interest of the next generation. The three million addicts, they are not residents of one compact area or contiguous place. They're spread all over the country. I do not care about what the human rights guys say, I have to strike fear. I have a duty to preserve the generation.

CHAKRABARTI: Patricia, I feel it's important to emphasize to our audience here, that's mostly in the United States, I'm gonna say it again and again, because you say it in the book.

This all happened in a democracy. The Philippines isn't some far off nation across the ocean.

EVANGELISTA: Oh, no, we're not.

CHAKRABARTI: It is a nation that the United States has had a long involvement with, first and foremost. Whose original constitution was modeled after the United States Constitution.

Original post:

The dark legacy of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines - WBUR News

It is saddening to see people lose their lives from drugs and illicit liquor. According to the 2022 Report on the Status of Drugs and Substance Use by the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) one in every 20 persons aged between 15 and 65 years were addicts.

That is why I support the governments drive against drug and alcohol abuse spearheaded by the Interior ministry. An effective campaign will ensure that people become responsible. I fully agree with the Interior cabinet secretary, Prof Kithure Kindiki, to seize vehicles used to transport drugs and illicit liquor and houses in which they are manufactured, stored or sold and deem them as government property.

That will help in reducing the rate of road crashes and crime in the country, which are caused by drugs and illicit liquor. The government should also ensure more job opportunities are created to ensure every Kenyan is involved in constructive work that earns them an income.

That will also reduce idleness among the youth, which is the main cause of drug and alcohol abuse. It will also ensure that parents get time to raise their children responsibly. The government should also carry out campaigns to educate people about the adverse effects of drugs and liquor.

All should be aware of the consequences of a conviction for drug and illicit liquor abuse and trafficking. The courts should heavily punish those arrested for drug- and alcohol-related crimes to ensure that every citizen follows the law.

County commissioners and their deputies, as well as the chiefs, should be at the forefront to ensure the government strategies to fight drug and alcohol abuse and trafficking work successfully without fear or favour.

Citizens should collaborate fully with the government in this fight as they know where these drugs and alcohol are made and sold, whether in the towns or villages.

Lewis Murimi & Paul Kimani, Migori

Originally posted here:

Step up war on drugs and illicit liquors - Nation

Feb 19 at

Please try again

Patricia Evangelista's new book is Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country(Photo Credit: Mark Nicdao)

In most of the world, salvage is a hopeful word, writes journalist Patricia Evangelista. But in Philippine English, to salvage is also to execute a suspected criminal without trial. The salvages of suspected drug users and dealers encouraged by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte are the subject of Evangelistas new book Some People Need Killing, which draws its title from the words of a vigilante she interviewed. According to human rights organizations, more than 30,000 people were extrajudicially executed in the Philippines for alleged narcotics offenses by the time Duterte left office in 2022. Evangelista interviewed the families of victims, and we talk to her about the impact Dutertes terrifying war on drugs had on them and on the country.

Guests:

Patricia Evangelista, journalist; author, Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country

Read the original:

Forum From the Archives: Brutality of Philippines War on Drugs Laid Bare in Some People Need Killing - KQED

Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images.

By Thomas C. Higdon

The writer is a person in recovery and co-chair of the Maryland Coalition on Drug Use, Treatment, and Recovery.

As a survivor of substance use disorder, Ive seen firsthand the devastating consequences of drug use lives lost, families destroyed, and communities devastated. However, after taking a hard look at the data, it is clear that the harms traditionally associated with drug use (e.g., overdose, crime, poverty) are caused and/or exacerbated by long standing drug prohibition policies.

To put it bluntly, the war on drugs has only made things worse. Thats why I support House Bill 1057 a legislative proposal being considered by the General Assembly that would create a task force to study drug use in our state and make recommendations for a new path forward.

Drug prohibition 52 years of failure!

President Nixon announced his war on drugs almost 52 years ago and it has not been an inexpensive undertaking. To date, the United States has spent more than $1 trillion on drug interdiction and enforcement. And what did we get for all that money? Since 1980, the number of people incarcerated for drug related offenses in the United States increased 1,161%, to 353,000 in 2023. Thats more than the populations of Allegany, Caroline, Dorchester, Garrett, Kent, Queen Annes, Somerset, Talbot, and Worcester counties combined.

However, during that same period, drug use increased 23% and overdose deaths increased 1,141%. In 2023 alone, we lost an estimated 107,000 friends and loved ones to overdose death in our country, including more than 2,500 in Maryland. Clearly, drug prohibition is not working. Given the life-or-death stakes, we need to explore options beyond simply locking people up.

Decriminalization works

In 2001, Portugal led the European Union in both drug use and fatal overdoses. In response, they decriminalized possession of drugs and increased investment in treatment and social services. As a result, the number of people seeking treatment increased and rates of drug use and fatal overdose fell. By 2019, Portugals rates of drug use and fatal overdose were among the lowest in the European Union.

In addition, there are numerous other benefits from decriminalization. Fewer lives were destroyed by the collateral consequences of a drug arrest, such as barriers to employment, professional licensing, housing, financial aid, and government benefits. Also, the money saved from reduced criminalization can be reinvested into other services such as voluntary treatment, housing, employment, harm reduction, and peer support.

What about Oregon?

In November 2020, Oregon voters passed Measure 110, making it the first state to decriminalize possession of drugs. At the same time, the state redirected almost $300 million to treatment and recovery support services. While it is still too early to say if Oregon will be as successful as Portugal, early results look promising. For example, in the first three quarters of the year under Measure 110, service providers reported more than 47,000 people seeking substance use treatment thats a 134% increase. In addition, the number of people receiving services also increased:

Critics of decriminalization are quick to point out that Oregons fatal overdose rate has increased since decriminalization. However, it is important to note that overdoses have increased across the country and Oregon is doing better than many other states. In fact, Oregons fatal overdose rate in 2023 was lower than 17 other states 7% less than Marylands, 34% less than Tennessees, and 66% less than West Virginias.

Whats next for Maryland?

Decriminalization worked in Portugal and is starting to work in Oregon. But that does not mean that Maryland should simply copy those jurisdictions. Carelessly rushing to replace failed prohibition polices could cause more unintended harm. Which is why House Bill 1057 creates a task force to study what has worked in other jurisdictions, while learning from their mistakes. This bill will bring together representatives from law enforcement, public health, treatment providers, people with lived experience, and more to explore options beyond simply locking people up.

The war on drugs has failed. Ironically, the very policies intended to reduce drug use have only made things worse. Clearly, we cannot arrest our way out of this problem. It is time that Maryland does more to recognize that substance use disorder is a health issue that requires public health solutions.

For these reasons, I urge every Marylander to contact their representatives in the General Assembly and urge them to pass House Bill 1057. We must change course before more of our loved ones die from failed drug war policies.

The hearing on the bill has been scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday in the House Judiciary Committee.

View post:

Commentary: We need to rethink how we address drug use - Maryland Matters

As the curative aspect of the fight kicks off as GOL Secures 1500 Acres for a National Rehabilitation Center for Drug Users

The Joseph Nyuma Boakai administration is demonstrating significant progress in the fight against drug trafficking and substance abuse, with a focus on protecting the health and well-being of all citizens, especially the vulnerable youth population.

A multi-sector committee established by President Boakai has been actively working to address substance abuse challenges through a combination of curative and preventive measures. In a recent development, the Multi-Sector Committee on Drugs and Substance Abuse announced plans to construct a national rehabilitation center for substance abuse victims and secured 1500 acres of land in Bensonville, Montserrado County for this purpose.

Additionally, a Youth Agriculture Training Center (YATC) will be established in Bensonville to provide agricultural training for individuals undergoing rehabilitation at the center. Dr. Louise Mapleh Kpoto, the Chairperson of the multi-sector committee who is overseeing the efforts, stressed the importance of implementing evidence-based practices in the establishment of the rehabilitation center to effectively combat substance abuse and support individuals in their recovery journey.

Dr. Kpoto, who is also the Minister of Health, said her team is carefully considering factors such as accessibility, suitability of the location, potential impact on the community, and resources needed for the smooth running of the facility.

The national steering committee, with the support of President Boakai, the Minister noted, will endeavor to implement evidence-based practices in setting up the rehabilitation center that would significantly contribute to combating substance abuse and supporting individuals in recovery.

We, as a committee, will continue to be proactive in addressing drug issues across the country, she said

The committee, with President Boakai's support, remains committed to addressing drug-related issues across the country.

Emphasizing the severe impact of drugs, especially KUSH, in the nation, President Boakai declared substance abuse a public health emergency, highlighting the imperative to address this pressing issue.

The declaration was made amid growing waves of drug-related deaths, involving young people and the arrests of hundreds of drug traffickers and users in Liberia regularly, concerned stakeholders have sprung into action.

President Boakai, in his maiden State of the Nations Address on January 29, observed that illicit drugs; especially KUSH are destroying the future of the country.

The drug epidemic, especially the use of KUSH, in our country is an existential threat eating away at the future of our children and the country. We must stand up and face this national security risk together. Given the need for immediate action to make good my pledge to the thousands of families burdened by this crisis, I am hereby declaring Drugs and Substance abuse as a Public Health Emergency.

The commitment of key officials, including Col. Abraham Kromah of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency and Minister Cole Bangalu of Youth and Sports, reflects the government's concerted efforts to combat drug abuse comprehensively.

Kromah disclosed to newsmen that the enrollment in the mental restructuring program will be exclusively voluntary. No one will be forced to go to the center. We will only take people who are willing to change, he said.

He added that the coding process is ongoing at the moment, a move that will help them embrace positive change. He however informed the journalists that defiant substance users categorized as regular clients, who would be found loitering in street corners would be arrested and taken to the treatment center in Bentol City.

Drug users arrested in ghettos will be processed and turned over to the criminal justice system for prosecution, he noted.

The LDEA boss however stressed the urgent need to rehabilitate substance users because according to him, 20% of the Countrys population is illegally using drugs. He said technical and security mechanisms are being mobilized for the protection of the facility and surrounding communities.

I am committed to enforcing the drug law of Liberia to the core, he said.

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Cole Bangalu, also a member of the committee, said that a more sustainable approach to combating drugs does not only focus on apprehending substance users but also on capacitating them to be more useful in society.

Bangalu noted that rehabilitation and capacity-building programs, which lead to employment and meaningful contributions to society, are in line with the governments agenda.

We are working out modalities to ensure that the process is implemented immediately. The President has said this is his priority, so we will work in line with the Presidents priority and his concern about these young people so that they can become useful citizens, said Minister Bangalore.

Efforts to rehabilitate substance users and provide them with opportunities for societal contributions are being prioritized by the government.

Technical experts and support personnel, such as Dr. Moses Ziah and Marlee Yekeh, are actively engaging in awareness campaigns and capacity-building initiatives to address substance abuse effectively.

Dr. Moses Ziah, III, a Psychiatrist providing technical support in the area of mental health, calls for publicity and educational awareness to make sure other school-going kids who are abusing drugs will stay at home and school and be treated or come for treatment.

The mental restructuring process, according to Dr. Ziah, is just a tiny component of the bigger picture lying ahead to be collectively tackled. Marlee Yekeh, a technical support team member, said she believes that at-risk youth are not zogoes but young, talented, smart, and resilient people who are using drugs and need a rehabilitation program that will bring about change.

I see them as my brothers, sisters, loved ones, and myself, Yekeh said. She said the holistic approach towards combating substance abuse will help reform the youth and make them productive. Those abusing drugs are productive citizens who need the support of the citizens to help solve the problem, she noted. The President remains committed to fighting drugs and making more drug users useful to society.

Unlike in the past, since its establishment by the President, the Kpoto Committee has been doing all it can to address the challenges posed by substance abuse through both curative and preventive measures.

During the administration of former President George Weah, Liberia witnessed a surge in the proliferation of narcotic substances, particularly the dangerous drug known as Kush. Millions of dollars worth of these illicit substances were being smuggled into the country and intercepted at various entry points.

Until the Weah administration, Liberia was not a significant transit country for illicit narcotics, but its nascent law enforcement capacity, porous border controls, and proximity to major drug transit routes contributed to trafficking to and through Liberia. While the country is not a significant producer of illicit narcotics, local drug use, particularly marijuana, is very common. Other drug usage includes heroin and cocaine. The government later reported an increasing prevalence of amphetamine-type stimulants and intravenous drugs. Then came the deadly KUSH.

However, this influx of narcotics had a profound impact on the country's youth population, leading to an increase in substance abuse among young people. In response to this crisis, the new government under President Boakai declared a war on drugs and substance abuse, recognizing it as a pressing public health emergency.

The President has committed to rescuing the youth from the clutches of this menace and safeguarding their well-being and as such his administration is dedicated to combating drugs and empowering individuals to play constructive roles in society, with a strong focus on curative measures, prevention strategies, and community engagement.

Meanwhile, the collaborative efforts of the multi-sector committee and stakeholders underscore the government's commitment to fighting substance abuse and ensuring the well-being of all Liberians.

Here is the original post:

Liberia: Boakai's War on Drugs Gains Momentum - Liberian Daily Observer

What is included in my trial?

During your trial you will have complete digital access to FT.com with everything in both of our Standard Digital and Premium Digital packages.

Standard Digital includes access to a wealth of global news, analysis and expert opinion. Premium Digital includes access to our premier business column, Lex, as well as 15 curated newsletters covering key business themes with original, in-depth reporting. For a full comparison of Standard and Premium Digital, click here.

Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the Settings & Account section.

If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for $69 per month.

For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the Settings & Account section. If youd like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial.

You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many users needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here.

Any changes made can be done at any time and will become effective at the end of the trial period, allowing you to retain full access for 4 weeks, even if you downgrade or cancel.

You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side.

You can still enjoy your subscription until the end of your current billing period.

We support credit card, debit card and PayPal payments.

See the original post here:

Tactics are shifting in the war on drugs - Financial Times

GENEVA (20 September 2023) A UN human rights report today calls for a shift from punitive measures to address the global drugs problem to the use of policies grounded in human rights and public health, arguing that disproportionate use of criminal penalties is causing harm.

The report urges States to develop effective drug policies, including by considering decriminalization of drug possession for personal use. If effectively designed and implemented, decriminalization can be a powerful instrument to ensure that the rights of people who use drugs are protected, it says.

Laws, policies and practices deployed to address drug use must not end up exacerbating human suffering. The drugs problem remains very concerning, but treating people who use drugs as criminals is not the solution, said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Trk.

States should move away from the current dominant focus on prohibition, repression and punishment, and instead embrace laws, policies and practices anchored in human rights and aimed at harm reduction.

The UN Human Rights Office report, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, finds that disproportionate use of criminal penalties discourages people who use drugs from seeking treatment and feeds stigma and social exclusion. According to the latest available statistics from the 2023 World Drug Report, people who use drugs are disproportionately affected by blood-borne viruses, nearly 660,000 die of drugs-related causes each year, and 10 percent of all new HIV infections globally in 2021 were among people who injected drugs.

The ill effects of these policies are profound and far-reaching, the report finds. Militarization of law enforcement in the so-called war on drugs contributes to severe human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings. And disproportionate use of criminal penalties contributes significantly to prison overcrowding.

The report highlights that the effects of these policies are most severe for people of African descent, women, indigenous peoples and young people from poor backgrounds.

Todays drugs policies have the greatest impact on those who are poorest and most vulnerable, Turk stressed.

There has also been an increase in the use of the death penalty for drug-related convictions worldwide, contrary to international human rights law norms and standards. The recorded number of people executed for drug-related offences more than doubled in 2022 compared to 2021, amounting to 37 percent of all executions recorded globally, the report states.

The current overemphasis on coercion and control to counter drugs is fanning an increase in human rights violations despite mounting evidence that decades of criminalization and the so-called war on drugs have neither protected the welfare of people nor deterred drug-related crime, Trk said.

The report shows that an increasing number of countries across regions are adopting policies and practices that decriminalize drug use and treat drug usage as a public health and human rights issue, and applying evidence-based, gender-sensitive andharm reduction approaches. The High Commissioner called on States to build on this positive trend.

ENDS

Go here to read the rest:

End overreliance on punitive measures to address drugs problem ... - OHCHR

The Hot Spring County Sheriff's Office continues to make headlines and even garnered a spot on KARK regarding all the coordinated efforts to find and arrest offenders all around the county for illicit drugs, stolen property and other criminal behavior.

The Little Rock news station spoke to HSC Sheriff Scott Finkbeiner about the non-stop pursuit of criminals his office has undertaken since he took office in January, as they have made over 30 drug arrests in that time, including 10 arrests in three separate incidents last week.

Methamphetamine is the most popular drug, fentanyl is picking up over the last couple of years, Finkbeiner said. We unfortunately had a fentanyl overdose about a week ago.

Even since Finkbeiner's statement on KARK, the department has made another big hit in the local war on crime. The HSCSO released the following statement on Thursday:

"This morning HSCSO made three arrest in the Bismarck area. The investigation lead to the discovery of five suspected stolen firearms $3000 cash, Marijuana and a stolen vehicle. This will result in multiple felony charges. We'd like to thank ADC ORU dog team for their assistance. Thanks!"

Finkbeiner said deputies have increased patrols in specific area looking for the worst of the offenders, and they hope to add a K-9 unit and more deputies to the force. He also wants to see more done, not just locally but also on a state and federal level, to stop or slow the flow of drugs coming into the county.

We really, as a county, as a country and state, need to look at these problems so find the root causes of this, how can we address these issues, Finkbeiner said.

See the rest here:

HSCSO making a dent in the local war on drugs - Malvern Daily Record

During the Prohibition Era, the U.S.-Mexico border was rife with liquor smuggling. One rancher who lived about twenty miles north of Nogales, Arizona, decided to get into the game with his string of self-directing mules. At night, the rancher would lead the mules south through the canyons into Mexico. The next night, hed load up the team with booze and let them go. The mules would make a beeline back, while the rancher went home another way. The mules consistently arrived before dawn, ready to be unloaded.

It took the feds two years to discover what was going on. They finally tracked the liquor-laden mules to the ranch and arrested their owner. He was fined, and the mules were sold to a miner who used them to haul ore.

I tell this story not to be quaintProhibition was a time of deadly violence on the border (and in Chicago, for that matter)but to draw a parallel to today.

Alcohol smuggling boomed under Prohibition, just as drug smuggling booms today under draconian drug laws. We can end it the same way.

We keep hearing that getting tough on the border is the solution to drug smuggling and migration. But weve been getting tough on the border for more than thirty years. And despite the billions spent, irreparable environmental damage, and massive body countmore than 7,800 have died since 1998, making the Mexican border the deadliest land border on Earth for migrantsmore drugs and migrants seem to be entering the United States than ever.

The reason people and contraband keep flowing into this country is because there is a market for them. We, of all people, should understand the laws of supply and demand.

Alcohol smuggling boomed under Prohibition, just as drug smuggling booms today under draconian drug laws. We can end it the same way. Legalization is already happening with marijuana; here in Arizona, it seems as if there are pot stores on every corner.

This is progress, although national standards and regulation of the industry are clearly needed. Predictably, marijuana legalization made the cartels switch to harder drugs like fentanyl, with deadly results. We must take away the illegal market by treating all drugs like we treat alcohol and cigarettesas a public health challenge, rather than a law enforcement problem. That means legalization and taxation and using the profits to expand education, health care, treatment and other support services for addicts.

Like drugs, the United States is dependent on immigrants. Our population would be declining without them and experts say they are keeping the economy afloat. On a macro level, immigration is good. But on a micro level, as were seeing on the border and in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities, migration causes painful dislocation and difficulties for both the migrants and the communities receiving them.

Migrants and refugees need to be carefully screened, given work permits, and settled in towns and cities across America where their labor is needed. Locals need help to prepare. Money spent on useless and harmful political stunts, like the nearly $200 million it cost the taxpayers of Arizona to place and then remove shipping containers in the desert that did nothing to deter migrants, could be used for this purpose.

Those of us who live and work on the border dont want open borders. We want an end to the fantasy that more crackdowns on the border will solve complex problems, or that the border was somehow under control when Trump was in charge. Those of us with memories longer than three years recall migrant surges were happening then too. We want an end to the border-bashing, wasteful spending, and threats to invade Mexico and kill even more people than the tens of thousands already killed by the war on drugs.

With more than $64 billion in trade and 350 million legal crossings every year, the U.S.-Mexico border is a thriving part of our economy and in many ways a model of peaceful, international cooperation. If we reframed these challenges of drugs and migration not as intractable local problems but as a national concern with positive solutions, we could reduce the needless death and suffering happening on the border and across our two great nations.

September 21, 2023

9:46 AM

Follow this link:

The Drug War on the Border Doesn't Work - Progressive.org