Duterte’s war on drugs: bitter lessons from Thailand’s failed campaign
Launched in 2003, Thaksin’s war on drugs bears significant similarities to what’s happening in the Philippines
The Conversation (US)
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Thursday, September 29, 2016
The body count from Philippine President Duterte’s “war on drugs” is growing by the day; more than 3,000 casualties leading to broad international condemnation. While he’s not the first leader to condone extrajudicial killings in the name of controlling illicit drug use, Duterte would be wise to learn from Southeast Asian history on what works, and what doesn’t. In Thailand, an official investigation launched after the 2006 military coup that wrenched power from Thaksin, 1,400 people out of the 2,500 killed as part of the war on drugs had nothing to do with drugs. (See also: Philippines' Duterte likens himself to Hitler, wants to kill millions of drug users)
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