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The drug problem in the Philippines has been viewed as a major issue by law enforcement and criminality, and the government with the increasing number of drug users in the country. According to the Dangerous Drug Board (DDB), there are 18 million current drug users in the Philippines, and 4.8 million Filipinos reported having used illegal substances at least once in their life. Methamphetamine, locally called shabu or “poor man’s cocaine” is the most commonly used drug in the Philippines. According to a 2012 United Nations report, among the countries in East Asia, the Philippines had the highest rate of methamphetamine abuse with a percent of 2.2% of Filipinos between the ages of 16-64 years. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6634291/#:~:text=The%20most%20commonly %20used%20drug,ages%2016%E2%80%9364%20years%20were https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/rich-media/rodrigo-duterte-war-on-drugs-2016

Since his inauguration back in June 30, 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte launched a war on drugs that resulted in the extrajudicial killings of thousands of alleged drug dealers and users. According to John Gershman, an expert on Philippine politics, drug dealing is seen by the president as a major obstacle on the economic and social progress of the country. The war on drugs is one of the foundations of Duterte’s policies he’d implemented back when he was the mayor of the city of Davao. Right after the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos, high levels of crime associated with drugs was cracked down by Duterte. During his time as a mayor, Duterte receive multiple criticisms from the Philippine and international human rights group, because of his de facto approval of extrajudicial killings with the help of the Davao Death Squad (DDS). During his presidential campaign, he promised that within 3 to 6 months after the election into office to suppress the rate of crimes, to remove drug gangs and corruption in the country. Right after his inauguration, OPLAN TOKHANG was However, even with these promises he made during his campaign, why is there still corruption in the Philippine government? Why is drug dealing still prevalent despite the country wide pursuit of drug dealers and users? https://www.cfr.org/interview/human-rights-and-dutertes-war-drugs https://www.hrw.org/tag/philippines-war-drugs

Body Explain the drug trafficking in the country,,,, Drug abuse impacts nearly every country in the world. It has achieved epidemic proportions in the Philippines and is one of the top targets on the president's strategy. However, there are several questions that need to be addressed in order to come up with a systematic program to resolve this issue. This established the economic, social and political background of the use of illicit drugs in the Philippines. The prevalence of illicit drugs in the Philippines has not been exactly established. However, UNODC figures suggest that the annual prevalence of marijuana is 3.5 per cent, amphetamine-type stimulants 2.8 per cent, and ecstasy 1.01 per cent of the population over 15 years of age. According to the International Drugs Control Policy Survey 2003, it is believed that there are 1.8 million opioid users in the Philippines, or 2.2 percent of the population. There are a lot of varieties that affect the illicit prevalence of narcotics in the Philippines, such as geographical factors that make patrolling and defending the country from traffickers of methamphetamine and marijuana planters difficult; economic factors such as poverty; social factors such as the phenomenon of overseas contract workers; media penetration and the deteriorating moral structure of the community. https://www.drugabuse.gov/international/abstracts/social-political-economic-contextillegal-drug-abuse-in-philippines Philippines Drug War Trade in Drugs is one of the world's greatest challenges for almost every country. Each nation continues to adjust its policies in a number of ways to resolve the problems. Rodrigo Duterte, the new president of the Philippines, has taken the problem more severe than any other country. When he took office, he launched an anti-drug movement and announced a drug war to eradicate both drug users and traffickers, which is to murder all of them if they don't confess. He granted the police the freedom to kill any drug offenders and urged every person to take part in the action to achieve the objective of making the Philippines a more comfortable country. President Rodrigo Duterte planned to resolve the increasing number of drug trafficking in the country, several government agencies in the country have developed their own solutions against the problem. The Philippine National Police (PNP) launched a project called OPLAN

TOKHANG all over the country. “TOKHANG” originally a visayan word, which means to approach and talk. The project was launched as a part of the campaign as a warning to illegal drug traffickers and users to stop their activities. (Science City of Munoz, 2016) https://zhairaorenday.wordpress.com/2017/10/18/oplan-tokhang-2017/ Random drug testing in schools is one of the solutions the Department of Education (DepEd) implemented against drug addiction. According to Secretary Leonor Briones, that random drug testing is essentially for prevention and rehabilitation of the student. “Random drug testing for students is considered by the government as entirely a ‘health’ issue and aims to provide appropriate interventions to those who will be tested positive for dangerous drug use, which will help the student stop further use and/or abuse of the substance.” (CNN, 2017) https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2017/08/15/Random-drug-test-high-school-students.html

The Good – Highlighting the Drug Problem in the Country The Bad – A Dangerous Philosophy “Hitler massacred three million Jews … there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.” These are the very words, spoken by President Rodrigo Duterte in

front of a conference in his home city of Davao regarding the update on the ongoing war on drugs. The former prosecutor told reporters that he had been compared to a “cousin of Hitler” by his critics (The Guardian, 2016). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/30/rodrigoduterte-vows-to-kill-3-million-drug-addicts-and-likens-himself-to-hitler Although it is difficult to definitely dismiss Duterte’s figures, his view of drug users can be. The word “adik” (addict) according to him, are users of illicit drugs, particularly methamphetamines, are beyond redemption. The Ugly – Extrajudicial Killings...