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Amnesty International on Thursday claims the government is using drug rehabilitation centers to hide human rights abuses committed against people accused of using or selling illegal drugs.

In a press briefing, Amnesty International Campaigner in the Philippines Jerrie Abella said: “The administration of President Marcos, Jr pledged a new approach to the country’s drug problems focused on public health and human rights. Instead, people who use drugs continue to be criminalized and stigmatized through punitive policies and practices despite the end of the Duterte era.”

“The government's punitive anti-drug campaign continues to this day, as we speak, leading to a vicious cycle of arbitrary detention in other violations, against people who use drugs, who are confined against their will and punished to force them to stop using drugs,” he said.

He stressed that drug rehabilitation centers were being used to disguise coercion and arbitrary detention of people supposedly involved in the illegal drug trade.

“Drug treatment and rehabilitation in the Philippines is not treatment and rehabilitation. It is a system of coercion, punishment, and mistreatment. People who use drugs, including adolescents, are punished and mistreated in every stage of their interaction with the criminal justice system,” he added.

He cited Amnesty International’s report, where they conducted research and interviewed 56 people accused of using and selling illegal drugs in Caloocan, Cebu, Quezon, and Davao, from January to July.

Abella called on the government to change the way it addresses the country’s illegal drug problem, focusing on more “evidence-based” measures.

“The Philippine government must move away from punitive and harmful responses. Instead, it must Implement evidence-based, initiatives that respect the dignity of all people and put health and human rights front and center,” Abella said.

“This includes decriminalization of the use, possession, cultivation, and acquisition of drugs for personal use, paired, with evidence-based health interventions. The government must also work towards addressing the stigma and discrimination around the use of drugs,” he added. Jaspearl Tan/DMS