Drug laws should be designed to minimise damage. This might sound obvious. But the UK's drug laws - along with those of most other countries - arguably do not have this effect. Indeed there is a strong argument that in many respects the blanket prohibition, under criminal statutes, of substances from cannabis to heroin along with the myriad synthetic substances now widely used to mimic their effects, does more harm than good. This is not a novel point of view. Drug experts in the UK and around the world have been pointing out the flaws and inconsistencies in current policies for ages, with former Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, among those who have argued for a new approach focused on human rights and public health. In the UK, polls show a majority supports liberalisation of the law on cannabis, following the example of countries including Portugal. But since this shift in public attitudes has so far been ignored by the Home Office, which instead brought in a sweeping ban on so-called "legal highs"=9D in 2016, this week's call for reform by a cross-party trio of MPs is refreshing. [continues 302 words]
The United Nations Human Rights Council voted to launch an investigation into the alleged killings of tens of thousands of Filipinos by police in a yearslong drug war-a rare international rebuke of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who started the campaign against narcotics. The vote passed 18 to 14 on Thursday at a meeting of the council in Geneva. The Philippines and China, both among the council's 47 members, voted against it. The remaining 15 members abstained. The resolution calls on the Philippines to carry out impartial investigations into alleged extrajudicial killings and to cooperate with U.N. representatives assigned to prepare a report on the human-rights situation in the Philippines. The report would need to be presented to the council for action in June 2020. [continues 458 words]
GENEVA - The United Nations' top human rights body voted on Thursday to examine thousands of alleged extrajudicial police killings linked to President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs in the Philippines, a campaign that rights groups around the world have denounced as a lawless atrocity. The United Nations' 47-member Human Rights Council supported a resolution advanced by Iceland that turned a spotlight on wide-ranging abuses, including killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and persecution of rights activists, journalists, lawyers and members of the political opposition. [continues 694 words]
WASHINGTON - President Trump's plan to use the death penalty on drug dealers has all the hallmarks of his favorite policies: It could fit on the front of a baseball cap. It is a proven applause line. It appeals to a conservative base. But, like so many of Trump's slogans-turned-policy, it's dredged from a bygone era and lacks clear evidence showing it would be effective. Using an obscure federal provision to bring capital cases against dealers, the concept that Trump enthusiastically backed during a visit to New Hampshire this week, fits within the framework of some of his other cornerstone ideas: Build the wall, Launch trade wars, Arm teachers. To some critics in the mainstream, though, the ideas are impractical, imprecise, or just dangerous. [continues 1074 words]
Unveiling a long-awaited plan to combat the national scourge of opioid drug addiction, President Donald Trump called Monday for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including embracing a tactic employed by some of the global strongmen he admires: the death penalty. "Toughness is the thing that they most fear," Trump said. The president traveled to New Hampshire, a state ravaged by opioids and which is also an early marker for the re-election campaign he has already announced. The president called for broadening awareness about drug addiction while expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts, but the backbone of his plan is to toughen the punishment for those caught trafficking highly addictive drugs. [continues 838 words]
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is studying new policy that could allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for drug dealers, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, a sign that the White House wants to make a strong statement in addressing the opioid crisis. President Donald Trump last week suggested executing drug dealers as a way to make a dent in opioid addiction. Opioids killed nearly 64,000 people in 2016, and the crisis is straining local health and emergency services. [continues 845 words]
In President Rodrigo Duterte's Philippines, the police, with his explicit support, have killed thousands of alleged drug dealers and users without due process, some while they were in jail, or asleep, or at home with their families. They allegedly shot a 17-year-old while he was in custody, then dumped his remains in an alley. The youngest victim was 4. Human rights groups, the U.S. Congress, the European Union and the United Nations have all condemned Duterte's "war on drugs." Yet when President Trump meets Duterte in Manila, it probably won't enter the conversation. [continues 1205 words]
MANILA -- When investigators from the Philippine Commission on Human Rights first arrived at Police Station No. 1, nothing seemed amiss. They were working a tip about people being plucked from the slums by police, held captive and ransomed for money at the station. But as they surveyed the office of the local anti-drug unit, things looked normal: desks, two sofas, a bookshelf. Officers kept glancing at the bookshelf. With news cameras rolling and police looking on, an investigator knocked on it. Someone knocked back. When the false door was finally opened, they found a dozen people packed in a small, concrete cell, one bloodied, one with a swollen jaw. [continues 1077 words]
MANILA - Every morning before dawn, Rosario Perez checks to make sure her sons are still alive. The three brothers, all in their 20s, sleep at the houses of friends and relatives, moving regularly, hoping that whoever may have been assigned to kill them won't catch up with them. They are not witnesses on a mob hit list, or gang members hiding from rivals. They are simply young men living in the Philippines of President Rodrigo Duterte. "How could I not send them to hide?" said Ms. Perez, 47, after peeking in on two of her sons and phoning the third. "We can barely sleep out of fear." [continues 1213 words]
DAVAO CITY, Philippines - Gen. Ronald dela Rosa, chief of the Philippine National Police, knows the value of a public display of remorse. He has been forced to apologize more than once. He was wrong, he acknowledged before the Philippine Senate as TV cameras rolled, to have trusted undisciplined policemen who killed a small-town mayor suspected of dealing drugs, as the mayor lay defenseless on a jail-cell floor. "I cannot blame the public if they're losing their trust and confidence in their police," he told the Senate panel, accepting a tissue from the mayor's son to wipe away his tears. [continues 1245 words]
President Trump, in a recent phone call, congratulated Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte for a "great job" in his crackdown on drugs, which human rights groups and the United Nations have condemned as a vigilante-style campaign that has left thousands of suspected drug dealers and users dead. The exchange is found in a leaked transcript of a April 29 conversation between the two leaders published by The Washington Post and reported on by The New York Times. "I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem," Trump says, according to the transcript. "Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that." [end]
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs would not be affected by the abduction-slay of a South Korean businessman by the anti-drug police operatives, his chief legal counsel said. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said Duterte would not allow any members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to further commit irregularities. Panelo said the Chief Executive would make sure that the police officials involved in the killing of Hanjin executive Jee Ick-joo would face legal consequences. "Regarding the murdered Korean businessman, the President will not tolerate any police abuse. All these police scalawags will be dealt with and prosecuted to the fullest under the law," Panelo said in a chance interview. [continues 230 words]
SAN FRANCISCO -- A US newspaper called on Washington to make sure that US aid to the Philippines is not used for President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial ran weeks before the kidnap-for-ransom-murder of a South Korean expatriate in the hands of Philippine National Police officers -- in the guise of an anti-drug operation--came to light and triggered an international outcry. The Post-Gazette editorialized on Jan. 2 that "Even in a roomful of tinhorn dictators, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines would out." [continues 215 words]
In this Sept. 15, 2016 file photo, President Rodrigo Duterte shows documents containing the names of politicians, judges, and law enforcers involved in illegal drugs during his visit to Camp Tecson in Bulacan. (PPD/King Rodriguez) CABANATUAN CITY - How can the Catholic clergy understand the seriousness of the drug problem? They should try shabu. A joking President Duterte floated the proposal here on Wednesday as scored the Church anew for its supposed hypocrisy and pretensions. The Roman Catholic Church, the faith of more than 80 percent of Filipinos, has been vocal in expressing concerns over the spate of killings linked to Duterte's brutal war on drugs. More than 6,000 suspected drug offenders have been killed since Duterte assumed the presidency. [continues 382 words]
[photo] In this Nov. 26, 2016 photo, President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he delivers his keynote address during the San Beda College of Law Alumni Homecoming at the Shangri-La Hotel in Taguig City. (PPD/King Rodriguez) MANILA, Philippines - President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday dug up old controversies including the so-called Pajero scandal and clergy sexual abuse in his latest tirade against the Catholic Church, which has been raising concerns over the spate of killings linked to his war on drugs. [continues 716 words]
President Rodrigo Duterte said no one could stop him from imposing martial law. PPD/Ace Morandante MANILA, Philippines -- President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday evening said that if the drug problem in the country worsens, he would declare martial law. Duterte said that no one could stop him from imposing martial law if the country's situation becomes "virulent," citing that he does not care about the Supreme Court. "Kung gusto ko at if it will deteriorate into something really very virulent, I will declare martial law if I wanted to. Walang makapigil sa akin," Duterte said in a speech during the 49th annual installation of officers and board of trustees of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Incorporated. [continues 339 words]
Also Threatens To Kill Governors, Bomb Kidnappers PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday denied claims he wants to declare martial law to extend his term in office. But Duterte talked tough, threatening to kill provincial governors involved in drugs after saying the same to mayors last week, and ordered security forces to bomb kidnap gangs even if they held hostages. Speaking before the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the President stressed he had no ambition to prolong his stay in power. [continues 527 words]
MANILA, Philippines - After confronting mayors with alleged ties to the narcotics trade, President Rodrigo Duterte wants to meet with governors to discuss the drug problem as he stressed that he would not back down on his campaign even if it costs him his position. "I'd be calling the governors next week. I'd really tell them. You tell your barangay captains, you have supervisory powers cities under you, those that are not yet charter cities, you tell the mayors," the president told businessmen in Davao City Saturday night. [continues 284 words]
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to impose martial rule to prosecute his deadly war on drugs, three decades after the nation shed dictatorship with a famous "People Power" revolt. "If I wanted to, and it (the illegal drugs problem) will deteriorate into something really very virulent, I will declare martial law if I wanted to. No one will be able to stop me," Duterte said in a speech on Saturday night. The 71-year-old former state prosecutor said the aim would be "to preserve the Filipino people and the youth of this land". [continues 231 words]
[photo] Duterte tells civilians 'don't get yourselves kidnapped' as he orders troops to BOMB hostage-takers and threatens to declare martial law as part of Philippines' drug war * President Rodrigo Duterte say kidnap victims may become 'collateral damage' * Abu Sayyaf, which is linked to al-Qaeda, earns millions kidnapping for ransom * Duterte also threatened to bring in martial law in his campaign against drugs * His government also acted at the weekend to ban Filipinos watching Pornhub President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military to 'blast' Islamist militants who have been on a kidnap-for-ransom spree in the Philippines, even if hostages would also be killed. [continues 759 words]
