'Shock and awe' has failed in Philippines drug war, enforcement chief says

[S.J.B.]

Exclusive: 'Shock and awe' has failed in Philippines drug war, enforcement chief says
Tom Allard, Karen Lema
Reuters
February 7th, 2020

MANILA (Reuters) - Colonel Romeo Caramat oversaw the bloodiest day in the blood-soaked war on drugs in the Philippines – 32 people killed in 24 hours in the province north of Manila where he was police chief in 2017.

Now the head of drug enforcement for the Philippine National Police, Caramat said that ultra-violent approach to curbing illicit drugs had not been effective.

“Shock and awe definitely did not work,” he told Reuters in an interview, speaking out for the first time on the issue. “Drug supply is still rampant.”

Caramat said the volume of crime had decreased as a result of the drug war, but users could still buy illegal drugs “any time, anywhere” in the Philippines.

He said he now favored a new strategy. Rather than quickly arresting or killing low-level pushers and couriers, he wants to put them under surveillance in the hope they lead police to “big drug bosses”.

Read the full story here.

 

[FuckinAcidMan]

Prohibition doesn't work.

 

[Jopeth]

Who could have seen this result coming lol

 

[JessFR]

Who could have seen this result coming lol

I know!

Just because its been a total failure dozens of times for the past hundred years before now, how do we know it'll be a total failure this time if we don't try!

Besides.. It's not as important that it save lives or reduce drug abuse as it is showing the public that we're tough on crime!

 

[Jopeth]

just like communism, prohibition has a 100% failure rate, but that wont stop idiots from trying!! lol

 

[dopamimetic]

And I would add capitalism to that list. No, indeed it works very well, but it fails horrendously as a model of anything humanitary. It's sad to read things like that from world leaders: “Shock and awe definitely did not work".. makes me feel very old in my early 30's...