Many Filipino citizens and organizations are protesting President Rodrigo Duterte after the death of 17 year-old Kian Delos Santos, another victim in the nation's war on drugs. According to the Telegraph, "Delos Santos is one of 81 people killed last week during mass police raids in what was the bloodiest period of the drugs war so far." Footage showed the teenager being dragged into an alleyway prior to being shot. At least 12,500 people were killed in 2016 due to police cracking down on drug dealers and users: "Most of the 12,500 casualties have been killed by masked assassins. An estimated 3,500 have been killed in police shoot-outs, which officers often claim were self-defence." What are your thoughts?
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I am personally not in favor of the Drug War in the Philippines. The President's extreme measures, however, have led to an approximately 25% decrease of the total drug market, though extrajudicial killings are not a measure I agree with.
Do you think the decline in the drug market will last? Many citizens are reasonable afraid to be caught with drugs, but others are much more vocally frustrated about Duterte's drug policy.
Just this past July, Duterte had almost an 80% approval rating. Hopefully he can keep this up and stay in office for a while. I am not in favor of extra judicial killings as innocent people may be caught in the chaos, but I am totally for the fear that Duterte is putting in the hearts of drug dealers around the country.
Fear is quite powerful. Is the 80% approval rating due to government coercion or legitimate approval by the people?
I feel his approval comes more from coercion, given Duetere's intolerant views on drugs, opposition to same-sex marriage, and the sheer amount of deaths caused by police since he came in to power. Though I do appreciate the reduction in the black market, I think prohibition in the Philippines will not work in the long run since it hasn't worked in any other nation.
Have any other countries adopted such extreme measures?
My opinion comes from cases like Portugal and the U.S. When Portugal decriminalized all drug and treated drug use as a public health issue, Portugal has far fewer drug-related deaths in comparison to the European Union: "The country has 3 overdose deaths per million citizens, compared to the EU average of 17.3 " (Independent). In the U.S., prohibition on any substance (i.e. alcohol, marijuana, opium) has yielded little results. The 18th amendment, which banned alcohol, led to the rise of bootleggers and crime organizations like the Mafia. Criminalizing marijuana has only led to prison overpopulation, overpolicing of minority communities, and at least half of the states ignoring the full ban. On top of that, at least 52% of American adults have tried cannabis. In the case of opium, the overprescription of legal painkillers acts as a gateway to heroin (a derivative of opium) and has snowballed into North America's opioid epidemic, which kills thousands of users per year.
Yes, however, I don't think anyone has ever been as brutally anti-drug as duterte ( he has taken the war on drugs to the next level). I want to see how things turn out in the phillipines in the next couple of years. Also, I don't believe that fear is a very defining factor for his approval rating, as he technically won election with the same ratings to begin with and there is no reason to fear a political candidate as they have no real power.
Does Duterte have opposition in the Philippines politically re: his war on drugs?