A POSITION PAPER ON WAR AGAINST DRUGS

By: Honey Ryza M. Dela Pena

Introduction:

Drug is any substance other than food or water that is intended to be taken or administered

for the purpose of altering the recipient’s physical, mental or emotional state. Drug is not as bad

as what you think it is but the problem would be the moment these drugs were uses improperly.

There are different kinds of drugs abuse, first would be without prescription or consultation with

a physician. It is understandable that consulting with a physician is very costly however using

drugs because of self-medication is very dangerous even those over-the-counter drugs that will be

used without proper knowledge can be very risky. Second is using drugs different from what it

was designed and prescribed for example would be the use of sleeping pills, not knowing the

correct dosage this could be very harmful. Finally using drugs and substance without legitimate

medical application or purpose. These drug manufactures invest time and money in researches for

their drugs without proper studies, use of these illegal drugs and chemical can cost your life and

against the law. Drug is the best thing that will ruin your life. It is the hardest trouble of our

government and the worst problem of our country. “Say no to drugs” the most common signage

campaign in schools and even establishments. It is a reminder that we should avoid drugs because

it can destroy your own life and can be destroy the life of others and also the community where

you belong. We can prevent the drug abuse in this country if we agree and collaborate in the

campaign of our president Rodrigo Roa Duterte to stop the drug dealers in the Philippines. The

Oplan Tokhang that gives the drug users a second chance to have a better life and start a new life.

War on drugs campaign by Duterte’s administration is a good plan and an active campaign by the

President. It is a better way to resolve the drug addiction and the crime that are involved in using

illegal drugs. This paper displays the pros and cons of the issue on war against drugs. I am agree

of the campaign of President Duterte on war against drugs because it is the only way to resolved

the drug addiction, crimes involving drug usage like rape, murder, robbery and etc., there should

be a stop production of illegal drugs as a whole allegedly the government in the past administrator

has no effective solution to this problem. Now it’s Duterte’s administration that slowly resolved

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the illegal drugs and will continue until the last day of Duterte’s will. According to the statement

of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in his SONA 2018, he stated that “War on Drugs is far from

over, it will not be sidelined – instead it will be as relentless and chilling of your will, as on the

day it began.”

Counter Arguments:

When the war on drugs had been started, the risks on the lives of policemen and military

increases. Missions against drug lords is no joke, considering that they too have their own army

that has no care about the lives that will be lost during a shootout or drug bust operation. What do

policemen have against assassins and mercenaries? Not to belittle the skills and capacity of law

enforcement, but a mission against drug pushers and manufacturers are increasingly worse. The

safety risks on the lives of many policemen are also very high. Friends and family of these brave

men and women would be very unhappy if something happened to them.

There is a never-ending chain reaction. One man incarcerated for drug abuse or drug-

related crimes is likely to have children who are growing up without a father. Statistics shows how

this can have a bad effect on the little ones. If they are in the same situation as their father before

them, they could end up drug users or sellers as well, whichever comes first. So the cycle just goes

on and on. It will be a never-ending ride of history repeating itself.

Arguments:

Lessen drug related crimes. When drug addicts will not have easy access to illegal

substances, they will not experience the highs or hallucinations that will drove them to commit

crimes. They wouldn’t need to steal either so they can buy drugs. Put simply, without the pushers

there will be little to no users.

Culprits will be penalized. Included in the policies of war on drugs is the penalty that will

be afforded to manufacturers, distributors and users of illegal drugs. The level of punishment that

will be imposed depends on the gravity of the crime. Knowing that there are consequences to be

paid will make people think twice before involving in any stage of the illegal drug.

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 Helps create a place that is drug free. A drug free area or community may seem impossible

given the present situation, but it is achievable as long as everyone does their share in the fight

against drugs. War on drugs should not only involve the government and local authorities but also

friends and family of drug users or resellers.

Conclusion:

Despite all the critiques and comments against the president Duterte’s campaign on war on

drugs, the majority of Filipinos is still strong to support the campaign because it has a big changes

to the country. It lessens the drug related crimes. The big real evidence according to the PNP-DEG

report that there are 4 million estimated drug users, 1.2 million drug users surrendered, 251,617

graduate of Recovery & Wellness Program (RWP) and 1258 minors rescued because of the

campaign of Duterte. Making the country and every barangay drug free. Government should

improve the forces of police during the Oplan Tokhang to easily resolve the drug addiction and

help those who surrendered to start a new again. Duterte should maintain this campaign on war on

drugs to totally eliminate the illegal drugs and the crimes involving it.

“Drugs are the enemies of ambition and hope… and when we fight against illegal drugs we are

fighting for the future.” – Bob Riley

References:

1. “The PNP operational Thrust against Illegal Drugs” Philippine National Police Drug

Enforcement Group (PNP-DEG).

2. Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. “Drug Situation” Drug Users”

3. Vanda Felbab-Brown, “Testimony on the human rights consequences of the war on drugs

in the Philippines” August 8, 2017. http://www.brookings.edu

4. Dahlia Simangan “Is the Philippine “war on Drugs” an Act of Genocide?”. Journal of

Genocide Research , DOI: 10.1080/14623528.2017.1379939, October 2017

5. Manuel Mogato and Clare Baldwin, “ Special Report: Police Describe Kill Reward, Staged

Crime Scenes in Duterte’s Drug War,” Reuters, April 18, 2017,

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 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-duterte-police-specialrep-

idUSKBN17K1F4.

6. Clare Baldwin, Andrew R. C Marshall and Damir Sagol, “Police Rack Up an Almost

Perfectly Deadly Record in Philippine Drug War,”Reuters,

http://ww.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-duterte-police/.

7. See, for example, Human Rights Watch, “Philippines: Police Deceit in ‘Drug War’

Killings,” March 2, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/02/philippines-police-

deceit-drug-war-killings; and Amnesty International, “Philippines: The Police’s

Murderous War on the Poor.”

8. Nicole Curato, “In the Philippines, All the President’s People,” The New York Times, May

31, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/opinion/philippines-rodrigo-duterte.html.

9. James Windle, “Drugs and Drug Policy in Vietnam.” Improving Global Drug Policy:

Comparative Perspectives and UNGASS 2016, The Brookings Institution, April 2015,

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/WindleVietnam-final.pdf.

10. Rishi Iyengar, “The Killing Time: Inside Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s War on

Drugs,” Time, August 24, 2016, http://time.com/4462352/rodrigo-duterte-drug-war-drugs-

philippines-killing/.

11. Jim Gomez, “Philippine President – Elect Urges Public to Kill Drug Dealers,” The

Associated Press, June 5, 2016,

https://bigstory.ap.org/article/58fc2315d488426ca2512fc9fc8d6427/philippine-president-

elect-urges-public-kill-drug-dealers.

12. Sofia Tomacruz, “Duterte gov’t tally: Drug war deaths top 5, 500 before SONA 2019”,

July 21, 2019, https://rappler-com.cdn.ampproject.org

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