scholarly journals Visions of Peace Amidst a Human Rights Crisis: War on Drugs in Colombia and the Philippines

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvador Santino F Regilme
Keyword(s):  
War On Drugs ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Illegal Drug ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Illegal Drugs ◽  
Drug Problem ◽  
State Repression ◽  
The Core ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Local Discourses

Abstract Peace is one of most widely used yet highly contested concepts in contemporary politics. What constitutes peace? That broad analytic inquiry motivates this article, which focuses on the contentious discourses of peace within a society besieged by widespread trafficking and use of illegal drugs. Focusing on the illegal drug problem in Colombia and the Philippines, the central puzzle of this paper constitutes two fundamental questions: How do state leaders justify their respective “war on drugs”? How do they construct and discursively articulate ideals of peace in the context of the illegal drug problem? This paper compares the post-9/11 Colombian war on drugs (2002–2010) vis-à-vis the Philippine war on drugs under the Duterte administration (2016–2019), particularly in terms of how their presidential administrations articulate “peace” in the context of resolving the drug problem. The paper examines the varying discourses of peace, investigates how those local discourses relate to global discourses on peace and illegal drugs, and underscores how and under which conditions those peace discourses portray the material distributive conflicts in those societies. The core argument states that the Uribe and Duterte administrations primarily deployed the notion of peace as a justificatory discourse for increased state repression, intensified criminalization of the drug problem, and the reluctance of the state in embracing a public health approach to the proliferation of illegal drugs.

Overcoming and Penalizing Precarity: Narratives of Drug Personalities Arrested in the Philippine War on Drugs

2022 ◽  
pp. 089692052110702
Author(s):  
Filomin C. Gutierrez
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Trade Liberalization ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The State ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
Drug Problem ◽  
Productive Work ◽  
Authoritarian Populism ◽  
Metro Manila

The article problematizes state penality as a mechanism of repression of precarious workers through a war on drugs in the Philippines. The narratives of 27 arrested ‘drug personalities’ in Metro Manila tell of how methamphetamine energizes bodies and motivates minds for productive work. Bidding to be classified as willing and able workers and family men, the study’s participants orient to a moral stratification that pits the ‘moral versus immoral’ and the ‘hardworking versus lazy’. Qualifying their drug use as strategic and calculated, they uphold the neoliberal values of individual choice and accountability. Their support for the anti-drug campaign stems from their recognition of a drug problem and the socioemotional toll of the dysfunctions of living in the slums. While trade liberalization facilitates methamphetamine inflow, a war on drugs fuels an authoritarian populism. As the state reaffirms symbolic mission to protect its citizens, it blames precarity to a problem population.

A ‘Righteous Intervention’: Megachurch Christianity and Duterte’s War on Drugs in the Philippines

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayeel Cornelio ◽  
Ia Marañon
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Religious Organizations ◽  
Illegal Drugs ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Drug Dependent ◽  
The Church

Megachurches, which are among the fastest-growing religious organizations in the Philippines, have been apolitical towards Duterte’s war on drugs. In contrast to some influential religious groups, that they have not released any statement is glaring. At the same time, megachurches have adopted interventions that aim at the rehabilitation of drug-dependent individuals and the moral renewal of police officers. What accounts for these actions? For megachurch pastors, the war on drugs is a ‘righteous intervention’ on the part of a God-ordained administration. At the same time, addressing the proliferation of illegal drugs is ‘humanly impossible’. Thus responding to substance abuse can only be a spiritual matter. The task of the church is to treat it as a spiritual condition to which the answer is conversion and moral recovery. The article ends with a critical reflection on how these theological views ultimately reflect the interests of the class these megachurches represent.

A NEW PENAL POPULISM? RODRIGO DUTERTE, PUBLIC OPINION, AND THE WAR ON DRUGS IN THE PHILIPPINES

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Kenny ◽  
Ronald Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Charismatic Leadership ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Illegal Drugs ◽  
Suspected Drug ◽  
Extrajudicial Killings

AbstractDrawing on evidence from the Philippines, this paper investigates the so-called penal populism thesis. Penal populism refers to an understanding of justice in which criminal and anti-social activity should be harshly punished. The paper tests whether support for harsh penal policies, including the use of extrajudicial killings, is associated with underlying populist attitudes and preferences for charismatic leadership. Since coming to power in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte has waged a violent and highly popular campaign against drug-related criminality. Based on survey modules fielded in 2016 and 2017, the paper demonstrates a positive relationship between populist attitudes and support for the campaign against illegal drugs in general and the extra-judicial killing of suspected drug users and dealers in particular. It also demonstrates a relationship between belief in the charisma of Duterte and support for the campaign against illegal drugs. The implications of the theory and results for the fields of populism and penal populism research are discussed.

Small-Denomination Paper Currency as the Focus of Supply-Reduction Drug Policy

2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Bernard ◽  
Eric Hains
Keyword(s):  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Banking System ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Illegal Drug ◽  
Illegal Drugs ◽  
Drug Sales ◽  
Paper Currency ◽  
Drug Legalization ◽  
Supply Reduction

Efforts to impede the supply of illegal drugs and the laundering of illegal drug money have been expensive and largely ineffective. The authors propose that supply-reduction drug policy concentrate on impeding the reintroduction into the banking system of the large volumes of small-denomination paper currency (primarily $1, $5, $10, and $20 bills) generated in street-level drug sales. Such highly focused policy might better achieve the supply-reduction goals of the “war on drugs” advocates and the harm-reduction goals of drug legalization advocates.

scholarly journals Collusion or collision? The war on drugs in the Philippines

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco J. Lara, Jr ◽  
Nikki Philline C. De la Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Shadow Economy ◽  
Public Support ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Illegal Drug ◽  
Drug Trade ◽  
Drug War ◽  
Qualitative Evidence ◽  
Violent Extremism

The spiral of State-led violence against the illegal drug trade in Southeast Asia did not end nor disrupt this shadow economy and its complex links to state and non-state actors as well as the newly emerging violent extremism. The evidence in fact shows that the violent response to the problem has only fuelled more economic, political, and security concerns. The case is the same in the Philippines where an indiscriminate and violent war on drugs has not lived up to its promises. Yet why is there continued public support for the anti-drug war despite its failures, and from among those that are often victimized by its violence? This paper takes an economic sociology approach to the problem of illegal drugs and turns the spotlight on the threats to embedded social networks posed by this deadly enterprise. Using quantitative and qualitative evidence and case studies of a province and city recognized as a hotbed in the government’s anti-drug war, the study will show how collusion and collision are alternate realities and means of adapting to an illicit enterprise that is bound to many social and economic arrangements, including those brought about by violent extremism.

Crack and Criminal Justice in Canton, Ohio, 1987–1999: “The Drug Problem has Created a Monster”

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-182
Author(s):  
WILL COOLEY
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Crack Cocaine ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Drug Problem ◽  
Industrial City ◽  
The City

AbstractThe rise of crack cocaine in the late 1980s propelled the war on drugs. The experience of Canton, Ohio, shows how the response to crack solidified mass incarceration. A declining industrial city of 84,000 people in northeast Ohio with deep-seated racial divides, it was overwhelmed by aggressive, enterprising crack dealers from outside the city. In response, politicians and residents united behind the strategy of incessant arrests and drastic prison sentences. The law-enforcement offensive worsened conditions while pursuing African Americans at blatantly disproportionate rates, but few people engaged in reframing the drug problem. Instead, a punitive citizenry positioned punishment as the principal remedy. The emergency foreclosed on more comprehensive assessments of the city’s tribulations, while the criminal justice system emerged as the paramount institution.

scholarly journals Glasgow coma scale in acute poisonings before and after use of antidote in patients with history of use of psychotropic agents

2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 210-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonka Poplas-Susic ◽  
Zalika Klemenc-Ketis ◽  
Marija Komericki-Grzinic ◽  
Janko Kersnik
Keyword(s):  
Glasgow Coma Scale ◽  
Prescription Drugs ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Acute Poisoning ◽  
Illegal Drug ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Illegal Drugs ◽  
Coma Scale ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of Use

Introduction. Data on emergency interventions in poisonings are scarce. Objective. To determine the effectiveness of antidote therapy in acute poisoning-related emergency medical services (EMS) interventions. Methods. A prospective observational study included all poisoning-related intervention cases over 3 years (1999-2001) in the Celje region, Slovenia, covering 125,000 inhabitants. Data were recorded on an EMS form. Results. Psychoactive agents were present in 56.5% out of 244 poisoning-related EMS interventions. Prescription drugs were a cause of intoxication in 93 (39.2%) cases alone or in combination with alcohol or illegal drugs. More than one fifth of poisonings were due to the use of illegal drugs in 52 (21.9%) cases, 43 (18.1%) out of them heroin related. At the time of EMS arrival, more patients who ingested illegal drugs were in coma or comatose than the rest. 24 (45.3%) vs. 32 (17.3%) of poisoned patients were in coma (p<0.001). Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) at the first contact was lower in patients who ingested illegal drugs than in the remaining patients (9.0 vs. 11.6, p=0.001). In 23.2% of the cases, an antidote was administered. In 29 (12.2%) naloxone and in 16 (6.7%) flumazenil was administered. Mean GCS after intervention was higher in all cases but significantly higher in illegal drug cases, 13.4 vs. 12.2 (p=0.001), with a mean positive change in GCS of 4.5 vs. 0.6 (p<0.001). In illegal drug users, mean change after antidote administration was 8.2 vs. 0.5 without antidote administration (p<0.001). Conclusion. High rate of successful antidote use during the intervention indicated the importance of good EMS protocols and the presence of a skilled doctor in the EMS team.

scholarly journals “. . .delivered from the lie of being truth”: The Affective Force of Disinformation, Stickiness and Dissensus in Randy Ribay’s Patron Saints of Nothing

Text Matters ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 84-96
Author(s):  
Vincent Pacheco ◽  
Jeremy De Chavez
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Filipino American ◽  
Heart Of Darkness ◽  
Affective Feedback ◽  
Patron Saints ◽  
Body Count

Waged in 2016, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has claimed over 20,000 lives according to human rights groups. The Duterte administration’s own count is significantly lower: around 6,000. The huge discrepancy between the government’s official count and that of arguably more impartial organizations about something as concretely material as body count is symptomatic of how disinformation is central to the Duterte administration and how it can sustain the approval of the majority of the Philippine electorate. We suggest that Duterte’s populist politics generates what Boler and Davis (2018) call “affective feedback loops,” which create emotional and informational ecosystems that facilitate smooth algorithmic governance. We turn to Patron Saints of Nothing, a recently published novel by Randy Ribay about a Filipino-American who goes back to the Philippines to uncover the truth behind the death of his cousin. Jay’s journey into the “heart of darkness” as a “hyphenated” individual (Filipino-American) allows him access to locally networked subjectivities but not its affective entanglements. Throughout the novel, he encounters numerous versions of the circumstances of Jun’s demise and the truth remains elusive at the end of the novel. We argue that despite the constant distortion of fact and fiction in the novel, what remains relatively stable or “sticky” throughout the novel are the letters from Jun Reguero that Jay carries with him back to the Philippines. We suggest that these letters can potentially serve as a form of “dissensus” that challenges the constant redistribution of the sensible in the novel.

Here-There: Enduring an Unwatchable Philippines in San Francisco

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-261
Author(s):  
Kathleen DeGuzman
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
Transnational Media ◽  
Media Events ◽  
Extrajudicial Killings

This article studies diasporic spectatorship of transnational media of the Philippines and proposes that the unwatchable is not simply that which cannot stand to be seen. Rather, within the context of two Filipino-centric visual media events organized in San Francisco, the article frames as unwatchable difficult viewing experiences that produce unexpected strategies for beholding. By examining Brillante Mendoza’s film Ma’Rosa (2016) and Raffy Lerma’s photojournalistic coverage of extrajudicial killings linked to President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines, the article positions laughter, silence, and turning away as diasporic viewing strategies that charge seemingly unengaged emotional responses with a politics for enduring traumatic visual media.

scholarly journals Governing through Killing: The War on Drugs in the Philippines

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
David T. JOHNSON ◽  
Jon FERNQUEST
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
First Year ◽  
Harsh Punishment ◽  
The World

AbstractThis article focuses on the war on drugs in the Philippines in order to explore issues related to extra-judicial killing, which remains common in many countries that have abolished the death penalty and in many more that retain it but seldom carry out judicial executions. In the first year of Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency (2016–17), thousands of people were killed by police or by vigilantes who were encouraged to prosecute his war on drugs. At a time when democracy is in retreat in many parts of the world, this case illustrates how popular harsh punishment can be in states that have failed to meet their citizens’ hopes for freedom, economic growth, and security.

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