Pubdate: Wed, 03 Aug 2016
Source: Sun.Star Cebu (Philippines)
Copyright: 2016 Sun.Star
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1690
Author: Mags Z. Maglana, --from Sun.Star Davao

SHOULD FIGHTING DRUGS BE BLOODY?

IN HIS first State of the Nation Address (Sona), among the memorable 
lines that President Rodrigo Duterte said was, "human rights must 
work to uplift human dignity. But human rights cannot be used as a 
shield or an excuse to destroy the country-your country and my country."

Michael Moore, the American documentary filmmaker and author known 
for his critique of the current state of American politics, economics 
and culture, featured dealing with drug addiction in his production 
"Where to Invade Next," which is premised on the idea of identifying 
and "stealing great ideas" of other countries that could be brought 
back to the United States-hence the notion of invasion, but minus the 
violence that it usually entails.

The segment on Portugal focused on its unorthodox approach to a 
massive problem with illegal drugs. Moore interviewed Portuguese 
policemen, one of whom had this to say about fighting drugs: "human 
dignity is the backbone of our society. And all laws have to be based 
on respecting and following that principle. And those principles are 
instilled in us, even in our training as policemen."

Channel One News reported in a feature that in the 1980s, one in 
every one hundred Portuguese was a heroin user and it was not 
uncommon for heroin users to die in the streets. Then in 2001 after 
ferociously waging a war on drugs for two decades, the country 
decriminalized personal possession and use in small amounts--it did 
not legalize drugs but it shifted the mindset about drug use as a 
health problem rather than a criminal problem.

Those caught possessing in excess of the set amounts (under three 
grams for marijuana, below a gram for heroin, and less than two grams 
for cocaine), according to Lisbon Police Commissioner Nelson Ribeiro 
in the Channel One News feature, were fined and sent to 
rehabilitation. The Portuguese government continued to go after drug 
suppliers but only 10 percent of its resources went to law 
enforcement, while 90 percent was for treatment and rehabilitation.

The news segment claimed that over time drug-caused deaths went down 
by 80 percent, the number of heroin addicts was reduced by 50 
percent, and very few went to prison because of drug abuse.

The statements of the Portuguese police in the Moore documentary 
resonated with me, in part because it connected with the statement of 
President Duterte on human dignity.

But more importantly because it indicated other less violent and more 
effective approaches to drug abuse, and one which in particular was 
underpinned by a concern for human dignity, which one is hard pressed 
to find in the increasing number people killed in cold blood due to drugs.

Using police data, journalists Vino Lucero and Malou Mangahas 
estimated that the number of people killed thus far averaged 10 
persons a day in the first three weeks of the new administration 
compared to an average of about one person killed every 10 days 
during the 78-month period of January 2010 to June 2016.

What has turned out to be a bloody war on drugs in the early days of 
the Duterte administration has elicited divided reactions from key 
sectors of society.

Personages associated with the Catholic Church and other civil 
society leaders have spoken up against what has become a daily body 
count. But social media discourse continues to be dominated by 
outright and tacit endorsements, and compounded by deliberate silence 
about the issue, perhaps mirroring what Fr. Amado Picardal, CSsR 
described as the absence of a "moral outcry."

It has come to a point where the divisions seem to have boiled down 
to a simplistic one: being critical of drug-related killings means 
one tolerates criminality and is out of touch with the problems of 
the country, and emanates from being anti-Duterte. A corollary to the 
above conclusion is the charge that all who are supportive of 
addressing criminality and the Duterte administration are also 
accommodating towards extra-judicial killings.

These views, which have only stoked the divisions spawned by the May 
2016 elections campaign, are by no means representative of those who 
struggle to meaningfully respond to the challenges of the times.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom