Say no to drug abuse initiative Philippines
Working together to stop the expansion of the drug problem in Philippines
Similar to Nigeria and Afghanistan, Philippines has a serious drug abuse problem. However, in this case it is slightly overblown. While drug smuggling through the porous borders of the southern island of Mindanao, or through the actions of corrupt politicians throughout the country that monopolize the industry to finance their campaigns and lives is heavily prevalent, the victims are once again the poor impoverished inner city folk of places like the capital of Manila, where unemployment and desperation reign supreme. Although the incidence is high in the poor, and it is a result of the rich taking advantage of their destituteness, the government hypocritically turns the table on this truth narrative by accusing the poor of drug abuse and dependence due to their own nature.
Rates of crime are increased due to increased rates of drug abuse compounded with poverty, but the country does not have proper prison facilities to provide space for the increased levels of crime. Currently, the majority of prison facilities operate at over 400 to 800% normal capacity. A prison meant to hold 400 citizens in Duterte’s home city of Davao is currently holding nearly 3200 individuals, where people have no choice but to sleep on top of one another, and do not receive court dates for years at a time with no bail due to lack of lawyers, judges, or absentia of legal representation due to improper government assignment.
Rather than allocating government funds into the criminal justice system and expanding or building new prison facilities to house those arrested and accused of crimes, the government and president have given a mandate to police officers to kill those accused of possession, sale, or use of drugs, without proper questioning, evidence, or court trial. Not to mention bonuses for every 50 kills and doubling of their pay last year to provide incentive for them to continue this wild west cleansing of the country. To citizens who have an 86% approval rating for their president, the collateral damage of innocent or possibly guilty lives is a low price to pay for a lowering crime rate and increased safety and security for the masses. But to those in opposition to these inhumane methods, including much of the international community and those in Manila where these crimes are being committed, these actions are condemnable and unjustifiable. We are in agreement with this latter assessment, that the ends never justifies the means when it comes to ending a life, regardless of guilt or innocence, so we are proposing this initiative in Philippines not as an implication that they possess a massive drug problem, but rather as a means to help those addicted or dependent to cope before it is too late and they are the victims of immoral and unlawful extrajudicial killings mandated by a conscious less government. We will reach out preemptively to school classrooms before they have been exposed to drugs, drug rehabilitation centers, prison facilities, hospital inpatient units and outpatient clinics, or one on one to assist in the recovery process for these unfortunate victims. Over time we will raise the funds to properly create a drug rehabilitation center with state-of-the-art facilities and equipped with the professional staff that can run cognitive behavioral therapy sessions to allow occupants to achieve full sobriety before venturing back out into the world. We may not be able to directly fight the government’s injustice, but we can indirectly combat it by reducing the number of individuals they are capable of laying their hands on. Let’s help them avoid the so called inevitable, by changing their present.
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We are currently in the planning stages of this project and will have more information soon.
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