Manila, Philippines- The infamous “War on Drugs” implemented by the Duterte administration gets a new campaign in light with the new administration’s priority: Rehabilitation and Community Integration.
In October of this year, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) launched the “Buhay Ingatan, Droga Ayawan” or BIDA campaign. The program focuses on safeguarding lives of communities and encouraging people to say NO to illegal drugs from the get go. According to reports, the campaign saw the conduct of 20,000 anti-drug operations resulting in the confiscation of about P9.9 billion illegal drugs.
The so-called “bloody” attack on pushers and users shifted to levying punishments but from social, health, economic, environmental, mental, and psychological perspectives. During its simultaneous national launch in November, the campaign boasted its whole-of-society approach with the presence of various government agencies, civil society organizations, business and industrial sector, religious sector, such as the Iglesia Ni Kristo, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila, and the Imam Council of the Philippines, Inc. and even professionals’ groups such as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
British journalist Johann Hari discusses the available research into the underlying causes of addiction and concludes, that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety but connections. For the better part, the Department of Health cemented its view on drug addiction as a medical disease which requires medical assistance for those rehabilitating or recovering. The religious groups call, for their part, spiritual and moral counseling support to those who needed the same.
When we view addiction as not a substance disorder but a social disorder, we see rebranded campaigns that looks deeper into the roots of developing or recovering healthy interpersonal connections The Philippines may just be moving towards a more sustainable approach to its drug problem.#
