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Data shows PH drug problem 'slightly manufactured': analyst

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Christian V. Esguerra, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/news/05/05/director-john-collins-2017-050517.jpg?ext=.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">London School of Economics&#x27; International Drug Policy Program director John Collins</div></figcaption></figure></div>MANILA -- Drug addiction in the Philippines is below the global average suggesting that President Rodrigo Duterte&#x27;s war on drugs may be fueled by a &quot;slightly manufactured crisis,&quot; a London-based drug policy expert said Friday.The global prevalence rate is 5.2 percent while the Philippine average is 2.3 percent, Benjamin Reyes, Dangerous Drugs Board chairman, told a forum at the University of the Philippines.The local figures will still be below the global average assuming that there were in fact 4 million drug users in the country based on intelligence reports, he said.&quot;So there is an element where this does feel like a slightly manufactured crisis,&quot; said John Collins, director of the London School of Economics&#x27; International Drug Policy Program.&quot;What you need to look at is what was the necessity for the recent declaration of the war on drugs? And so there is a perception that this is at a crisis point and there has to be severe action.&quot;More than 7,000 people have reportedly been killed in Duterte&#x27;s brutal drug war launched nearly a year ago. But authorities disputed the numbers, insisting only 2,692 had been killed in 53,503 anti-drug operations. The rest of the fatalities were considered &quot;homicide cases still under investigation,&quot; Reyes said.Duterte&#x27;s drug war is &quot;not a new idea,&quot; said Collins, who cited similar crackdowns in other countries.Like the Philippines, Thailand&#x27;s war on drugs also gathered immense public support at the start.But the campaign launched by then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2003 did &quot;not achieve its targets&quot; later on, said Pascal Tanguay of the Bangkok-based Law Enforcement and HIV Network and Ozone Foundation.Asked if Duterte&#x27;s drug war was bound to fail, Collins said: &quot;Based on international experience, it has virtually never worked.&quot;Reyes said the government was working on a &quot;holistic and balanced&quot; strategy incorporating United Nations standards to address the drug problem.He was optimistic Duterte would sign an executive order adopting the plan, which will also institutionalize community-based rehabilitation programs and build more gender-sensitive facilities.&quot;(Duterte) can easily be reasoned with,&quot; Reyes said.

Drug addiction in the Philippines is below the global average suggesting that President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs may be fueled by a "slightly manufactured crisis," a London-based drug policy expert said Friday.

Drug addiction in the Philippines is below the global average suggesting that President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs may be fueled by a "slightly manufactured crisis," a London-based drug policy expert said Friday.

Data shows PH drug problem 'slightly manufactured': analyst

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Data shows PH drug problem 'slightly manufactured': analyst

Christian V. Esguerra,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 05, 2017 03:08 PM PHT

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Updated May 05, 2017 06:01 PM PHT

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war on drugs

John Collins

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