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Poverty and illegal drugs
CAN’T the government eliminate the drug menace without curtailing the basic rights of the people, especially of the poor?
In fact, it is through upholding of these rights, especially social and economic rights, that people can repudiate the use and trade of illegal drugs. The system that breeds the proliferation of illegal drugs is the same one that causes unrest among the Filipinos. Thus, it is important that the root causes of poverty, that serves as a breeding ground for the existence of the illegal drug trade, and others that give rise to armed conflict, be addressed thoroughly.
The government should strive to improve the living conditions of Filipinos, especially the marginalized, by providing them secure jobs with living wages, free education and health care, and land to cultivate. This is the surest way to stop the proliferation of illegal drugs.
Filipinos certainly support the aggressive war against illegal drugs. But they also expect the government to – with the same degree of aggressiveness – uphold and protect human rights and observe due process. There’s no doubt that a more calibrated campaign is needed to solve the drug problem. Drug trafficking is an organized crime on a massive scale. It involves funding, manufacture and distribution. The Philippines has become a hub for international drug syndicates. There were reports of “foreign investors” funding large-scale manufacture and operations of illegal drugs such as shabu.
But we have to attack the drug problem at the source. We will never make any substantial headway in the anti-drug campaign if the root causes of the problem are left unchecked, and even if our law enforcers will continue to make arrests or kill pushers every hour of everyday.
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