After more than 7,000 killings by police and vigilantes, an incident involving the death of a South Korea businessman has finally put an end of Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.
Punitive measures and forced rehabilitation don’t work.
Jorge Silva/Reuters
As in other parts of the world, the war on drugs in Southeast Asian countries has huge social, moral and medical costs. Now, an approach that places harm reduction at its centre is gaining support.
Attempts to curtail demand by resorting to extrajudicial killings may have popular appeal, but may ultimately serve to consolidate crime groups, raise protection costs and temporarily displace activities to less hostile locations.
Damir Sagolj/Reuters
Organised crime groups are profiting from the fruits of globalisation such as free-trade agreements as well as the massive upgrade of the region’s infrastructure and connectivity now underway.
Duterte’s war on drugs has already resulted in more than 3,000 casualties.
REUTERS/Czar Dancel
Can Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte learn anything from Thailand’s failed campaign against drugs in the early 2000s? Maybe to adopt a less bloody and more comprehensive approach.