Category Archives: War On Drugs

Colombias President Ivan Duque appears to have given up on combating drug trafficking 50 years after the beginning of the disastrous War on Drugs.

For the first time since taking office, Duque didnt even mention drug trafficking after talking to his American counterpart Joe Biden last week.

Bidens press secretary said the US president had called for a holistic counternarcotics approach in their first phone call, but the Colombian president had other things in mind.

Prosecutors were interrogating the husband of Vice-President Marta Lucia Ramirez over his role in drug money laundering by the capitals real estate tycoons.

The Supreme Court was already investigating Duques political patron, former President and admitted former Medellin Cartel associate Alvaro Uribe since last year.

Evidence indicated Uribe conspired with the drug trafficking organization of Marquitos Figueroa whose late money launderer helped finance Duques 2018 presidential campaign.

Defense Minister Diego Molano, who swore that in March he would kick off the aerial fumigation of coca, the base ingredient of cocaine, in March, appears to have forgotten the controversial strategy that was announced at least seven times.

Some 40 lawmakers requested the Constitutional Court to verify the governments compliance with conditions that would allow the resumption of the controversial strategy in early June, but have yet to receive a response.

The delays and false promises make it increasingly unlikely the Duque administration will be able to resume spraying before leaving office in August next year.

Defense Ministry statistics indicate that the manual eradication of coca increased with more than 30% between January and May compared to the same period last year, but these statistics have lost all meaning.

Coca cultivation went up by 33,000 hectares to 245,000 in 2020, according to the US Government, raising questions about Bogotas claims that more than 130,000 hectares were eradicated last year.

The White House last week confirmed claims by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime that Colombia produced more cocaine that ever last year.

The disintegration of Duques counternarcotics coincides with the 50th anniversary of the War on Drugs, which is widely considered an epic failure, except by the narcos.

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After 50 years, Colombia seems to have given up on drug war - Colombia Reports

ShaCarri Richardson looks on after winning the Womens 100 Meter final on day 2 of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 19, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

ShaCarri Richardson was winning the race for Pre-Olympics Most Popular American Athlete and then, suddenly, she wasnt. Shes still popular controversy has made her sympathetic and even more famous but now its all complicated.

ShaCarri was going into Tokyo as the odds-on favorite to end up on a Wheaties box with her flaming hair, her blazing speed, and her audacious confidence. We love someone who knows shes bad and she knew she was a bad mamajama. But in a twist worthy of a novel, a funny thing happened on the way to the coronation. Her story was upended by the pathetic War on Drugs.

Please miss me with the idea that its her fault she took some weed (to get over the pain of the death of her mother) and the Karen-ish argument that she shouldve known better. People have been quick to blame her a 21 year-old in the midst of the most difficult moment of her life because its easy to place blame on a single person.

Yes, she broke a rule but the real problem is the rule. Its a dumb one and given how deeply the drug prohibition and the War on Drugs damages the Black community, we should not give any respect to this oppressive rule. If we just follow and uphold bad, immoral rules then society will never advance. The Civil Rights Movement that helped liberate us was powered by the concept of civil disobedience rejecting and breaking immoral, oppressive rules. So instead of leaping to the simplistic notion of rules are rules and she didnt follow the rules, lets do something bigger and more meaningful: lets critique the institutions for perpetuating a ridiculous prohibition on marijuana.

Why is marijuana illegal? Its not a performance enhancer, its not a steroid, so why is it banned? If ShaCarri had gotten drunk there would be no problem, but even a little weed is disqualifying? Doesnt that sound arbitrary? The real problem isnt that ShaCarri smoked (or ate) some weed. Its that we live in a country that prizes the pursuit of happiness yet criminalizes using marijuana. And this country does that because marijuana prohibition helps fuel the Prison Industrial Complex which houses thousands and thousands of marijuana offenders they are the main product.

And most of them are Black people.

Marijuana is a gateway drug for powerful white people to take the freedom of Black people. Criminalizing marijuana is a big business. And our efforts to police marijuana mean thousands of non-violent Black American drug users are attacked by police while a multi-billion industry is controlled by homicidal criminals who live in other countries. And people like ShaCarri are penalized for wanting the peace that marijuana brings. This system makes no sense and if marijuana were legalized in America that would crush the underground market, free the police to pursue actual crimes, and create millions and perhaps billions in tax dollars.

ShaCarri was set to become the face of the Tokyo Olympics but now shes like the face of the ridiculousness of our marijuana prohibition. I just want to see her run but as The Onion wrote Dreams Crushed Over Trivial Bullshit Represents Nation Better Than Gold Medal Ever Could.

ShaCarri winning wouldve been held up as an example of American Awesomeness but ShaCarri not being able to race over this is an example of American Patheticness.

Touris the host of the podcasts Toure Show and Democracyish and the podcast docuseries Who Was Prince? He is also the author of six books.

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ShaCarri Richardsons Olympics dream was crushed by the War on Drugs - TheGrio

MANILA, Philippines The killings in theDuterte administration's bloody "war on drugs" are part of a "war"one that "terrorizes" the poorest of the poor and leaves them with no recourse for justice, a panel of rights advocates and lawyers said.

In asecond report that will be sent to the 47th Session of the United NationsHuman Rights Council, Investigate PH highlighted what it said was the lack of domestic remedies available to victims of the "war on drugs", many of whom belong to the country's poorest.

"By simply yet selectively treating illegal drug use as a crime rather than a larger public health challenge, the president has launched a war against the poor, that serves to demonstrate his power and to sow fear," the report read.

"'Tokhang'is a shortened phrase for 'knock and persuade,'referring to the police house-to-house visits. But in reality, it is 'kick in the door and shoot'...Those killed in anti-drug operations are overwhelmingly poor people unable to assert their rights to due process."

Citing interviews with victims and witnesses, Investigate PH said poor communities are affected by these operations through:

According to witnesses, relatives of victims are still visited by cops years after their family members are killed in operations. They are asked if they still intend to file a case.

"Instinctively the people say 'no,'hoping that the police will leave them alone. They fear for the lives of their other children," Investigate PH said.

The investigative group also called into question the police claim that most if not all of the killings resulted from legitimate drug suspects violently resisting arrest.

"Evidence indicates that unarmed victims have been executed either in their home, on the street or after being abducted, with weapons or drugs likely planted after," the report read, citing photographic evidence of victims who were handcuffed and unarmed when they were shot by cops.

"In one case, a witness saw the police execute three men, then plant guns on them after firing the weapons in the direction the police had come from."

Despite the 'nanlaban' narrative, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that his department's review of drug cases found lapses in protocol. He said that there many cases where"no request[s] for ballistic examination or paraffin test [were] pursued" in cases where cops claimed suspects violently resisted arrest.

Independent autopsies on drug war victims also found that there was "no genuine police inquiry into the cause of death" on the part of the authorities. Death certificates and police examinations were found lacking as they did not record X-rays of victims or evidence of defensive wounds.

Investigate PH pointed out that the finding has so far "not translated into changes in anti-drug policy and operations or placed accountability for the killings."

The group also pointed to what it said wasthe persistent lack of redress for abuses by State agents, saying: "Police routinely cover-up the circumstances of killings in anti-drug operations, intimidate families and potential witnesses, and obstruct review of most killings by the Department of Justice."

Investigate PH also said that, onan institutional level, the approach to barring justice is two-pronged: on the ground, the friends and families of victims are intimidated and even threatened. Meanwhile, police leadership points to the lack of formal complaints as evidence that operations are done by the book.

Out of over 6,000 anti-drug killings acknowledged by official police data, the Philippine National Police has given the justice departmentrecords of 53 cases that its Internal Affairs Service has worked on.

"The Duterte government has ensured the lack of accountability for police failing to follow standard protocols in thousands of cases of anti-drug operation killings. The Ombudsman has accepted all these killings as part of 'regularity'in police operations. The higher courts have also rejected claims by victims relatives, in favor of the police," Investigate PH said.

To recall, Investigate PH in its first reportsaidthat numerous and documented cases ofabuseperpetrated by state forces have "become more institutionalized, orchestrated and entrenched" under the Duterte administration.

READ:Duterte government has no interest in probing themselves global group

Commissioners of the panelalso criticizedthe Duterte administration's flagship anti-narcotics campaign for "failing to quell the trade in illegal drugs its purported goal which continues to flow cheaper than ever."

In 2020, crystal methamphetamines or shabu was found to still be behind the most arrest and treatment admissions in the Philippines, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported.

Citing figures from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Dangerous Drugs Board, the UNODC said that shabu "remains the main drug of concern in the Philippines" with just a year left under the Duterte administration.

According to the government's Real Numbers PH info campaign, 13,400 barangays are yet to be classified as "drug-free" out of 42,045.

The president's landslide win in 2016 was founded on, among other things, ambitious promises of ending drugs and criminality within the first six months of his term. He later asked for a six-monthextension that he also later failed to meet.

READ:With a year left in Duterte's term, UNODC says shabu still a major problem in the Philippines

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Abuse in 'drug war' routinely covered up, advocates say - Philstar.com

(Philstar.com) - July 7, 2021 - 12:05pm

MANILA, Philippines The Philippine National Police on Thursday rebuffed the report of ainternational investigating panel that circumstances behind the killings in the Duterte administration's "war on drugs" are being covered up.

A Department of Justice-led review last year of drug cases where suspected drug personalities were killed found lapses in protocol. The Commission on Human Rights has also repeatedly raised concerns over a lack of cooperation from the police on possible cases of rights violations in law enforcement operations.

In a statement, Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP chief, said there is no policy to cover up wrongdoings and abuse in policeranks.

"We are aware of these allegations but we also inform our compatriots that more than 18,000 police officers have been punished in the past five years and this includes the dismissal of more than 5,000 in our ranks due to various cases of abuse of power,"he said.

What did the report say?: Investigate PH in asecond report that will be sent to the 47th Session of the United NationsHuman Rights Councilsaid that police officers block attempts at transparency and accountability.

"Police routinely cover up the circumstances of killings in anti-drug operations, intimidate families and potential witnesses, and obstruct review of most killings," it said.

Witness interviews by the group found thatthe friends and families of victims are intimidated and even threatened to keep quiet. Meanwhile, police leadership points to the lack of formal complaints as evidence that operations are done by the book.

According to witnesses, cops still visit relatives of victims years after their family members are killed in operations to ask if they intend to file complaints.

"Instinctively the people say 'no,'hoping that the police will leave them alone. They fear for the lives of their other children," Investigate PH said.

"Evidence indicates that unarmed victims have been executed either in their home, on the street or after being abducted, with weapons or drugs likely planted after," the report also read, citing photographic evidence of victims who were handcuffed and unarmed when they were shot.

Independent autopsies on drug war victims also found that there was "no genuine police inquiry into the cause of death" on the part of the authorities. Death certificates and police examinations were found lacking as they did not record X-rays of victims or evidence of defensive wounds.

Selective transparency?: While the national police does take action in high-profile murder cases by cops, it also grants a presumption of regularity in the killings ofactivists and drug suspects.

The police general also defended the 'nanlaban' narrative that suspects end up dead because they forced cops to shoot saying police officersare also harmed in their operations and are forced to fight back.

"It's coming out that the lives of our policemen were really in danger...I also remind you that there are deaths and injuries on our side in our tough campaign against illegal drugs," he said.

Eleazar also pointed to thecase folderssubmitted to the justice department for reviewon police anti-illegal drug operations where there were deaths, either of suspects or police operatives.

The PNP has also send the DOJ53 files from its Internal Affairs Service out of the over 6,000 deaths in anti-drug operations.

"I understand your point of ensuring a professional PNP and of a human rights-based approach in the conduct of our operations but what I can assure you is that these are all being observed and strictly monitored,"the PNP chief claimed.

Franco Luna

Originally posted here:

PNP: No cover-up in 'drug war'; more than 5K cops dismissed for 'abuse' - Philstar.com

The ever increasing prevalence of drugs in our society and the existence of drug gangs cannot be stopped or defeated by the current methods of criminalisation and enforcement.

This is the view of the Social Democrats Galway City East councillor, Owen Hanley, who said it is time the State ended the ineffective war on drugs and began instead, to look seriously at a regulation approach.

Cllr Hanley made his call following a statement issued by Youth Workers Against Prohibition, which declared, the policy of prohibition/criminalisation has failed and is not the way forward."

The group, which features more than 100 youth workers, said "there is, and always will be, a thriving unregulated drug market and the longer we continue to hold on to the illusion of beating it, the longer we will have to see young people, families and communities suffer the consequences".

Cllr Hanley said the youth workers should be taken seriously as work on the front lines with those who would otherwise be forgotten by the system.

They support those on the hard edge of injustice and inequality, he said, so I'm not surprised they are raising their voices against our status quo that simply is not working. We aren't stopping the increasing prevalence of drugs in society, we aren't stopping dangerous drug gangs, and we aren't helping many lives plagued with addiction.

In its statement, Youth Workers Against Prohibition said: We see the devastation that unregulated drugs are inflicting on communities as young people have no idea of the content, purity or consequences of what they are taking. Prohibition drives our young people who use drugs underground, it isolates them and places them in danger...and propels them further into a cycle of addiction, debt and criminality.

The group is calling on the Government to instead adopt an evidence-based drug policy that places social care and public health, not the criminal justice system, at the heart of the States response to drug use.

A responsibly regulated market and a health-led response to drug use will produce more informed individuals, stronger communities, and healthier, happier families, the YWAP statement read. This approach also recognises that drug addiction is rooted in traumatic adverse early childhood experiences and will be treated as such."

Cllr Hanley believes that this last point is salient. There is strong evidence in support of a regulation approach, he said, that supports individuals from a mental health perspective, and ends the ineffective war on drugs. This discussion must happen."

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War on drugs is not working, it is time to talk about regulation, says Hanley - Galway Advertiser

Americans attitudes toward marijuana are changing across the country. With four more states joining the fold in November, 15 states and Washington, D.C. have now legalized marijuana for recreational use, and 34 states allow its use for medical reasons. More recently, the House of Representatives voted to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, although the bill failed in the Senate. Given the disastrous consequences of the war on drugs both in the U.S. and abroad, this shift is unsurprising and long overdue.

There continues to be, however, a zero-tolerance policy in the military regarding marijuana, and thousands of uniformed service members are discharged each year for failing randomly administered drug tests. The governments stance on marijuana as a controlled substance may not change anytime soon. But there is a better way for military leaders than zero-tolerance by transitioning to a more measured response to marijuana use among service members.

For men and women in uniform, drug use is governed by a single article of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which imposes a maximum penalty of dishonorable discharge and two years of confinement for anyone who wrongfully uses, possesses, manufactures, distributes, or imports any controlled substance including opium, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana. In reality, a positive test for a drug like marijuana often leads to an immediate separation from the military.

Related: Canadian troops were going to fire artillery. Then they got high

The UCMJs direction here, however, is woefully limited. Should using marijuana once be considered a crime tantamount to distributing cocaine or manufacturing meth? Given that most states recognize the medical benefits of marijuana, its illogical to consider that all drugs on the federal controlled substance list are equally harmful and should be treated under a single law. An 18-year-old who smokes a joint because of a lapse in judgment is no Walter White, after all.

More importantly, it makes little sense to lump drugs into a single category while making separate, more lenient allowances for alcohol. Though military culture may not like to admit it, alcohol is a drug, one I contend is far more harmful than marijuana. A recent study from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that frequent heavy drinking, defined as consuming five or more drinks on one or more occasions per week, occurs among a substantial proportion of U.S. military personnel, and that young adults in the military are more likely than their civilian counterparts to engage in heavy drinking.

Like many of my fellow service members, during my five years in the Navy I repeatedly witnessed how alcohol use can destroy sailors careers and families and impact a units morale. American service members stationed in Japan, for example, have earned a reputation for their drunken escapades, many of which have had deadly consequences for civilian bystanders. Aboard deployed Navy warships, rest stops at foreign ports are largely seen as opportunities to drink among the crew, the average age of which is rarely above the mid-twenties.

The military communitys acceptance of drinking as a pastime and its zero-tolerance policy toward marijuana use stand in stark contradiction to one another.

I have personally seen Navy chief petty officers, men with at least 15 years of service to their name, go to jail and later stand in front of their captain for crashing their car or pulling a gun on someone while drunk. I have never heard of a sailor, or indeed anyone, doing anything similar because they had smoked a joint. After having served five years as a commissioned officer aboard warships, I seriously question whether our attitudes toward alcohol and marijuana arent entirely misguided.

The federal governments policy towards the drug notwithstanding, isnt there a better way for the military to deal with marijuana use among its ranks? It is not surprising that service members, many barely out of high school, will make mistakes and use what is, in truth, a drug that is widely prevalent among young people. That the punishment for such an offense should be an immediate and unquestioned discharge from the military seems unusually harsh.

In the Navy, for example, sailors are allowed one strike when it comes to alcohol-related incidents like drunk driving; only a second offense, or treatment failure, will lead to a members discharge. Why not adopt a similar policy towards marijuana use?

Its time to reform the zero-tolerance policy for marijuana use in the military.

While we may not see the federal legalization of marijuana any time soon, service members dont deserve to see their careers ended, and their veterans benefits potentially stripped, for a lapse in judgment. Instead, just like with alcohol-related incidents, they should be counseled and recommended for discharge only if they are deemed treatment failures. Given the militarys recent woes in manning its own ranks, it is nonsensical to hemorrhage service members who have made a harmless mistake. To show up to ones unit high or drunk should be considered a serious offense, but to have one positive THC test doesnt make a service member an irredeemable criminal. Instead of turning their backs on these men and women, perhaps military leaders should seek to rehabilitate them.

The militarys stubborn drug policy remains unchanged in large part because we refuse to talk about it. Indeed, to point out its logical inconsistency would likely draw the unwanted attention of ones superiors. This is unfortunate, because the reality of marijuana use in American culture is not what it was decades ago. The leaders of the militarys services should pay closer attention to how its zero-tolerance stance is impacting sailors, soldiers, Marines, and airmen. Reforming this policy is not only good for Americans in uniform, but for the strength of the services themselves.

Thibaut Delloue served as a surface warfare officer in the U.S. Navy from 2015 to 2020. He was the communications officer aboard the destroyer USS Carney in Rota, Spain and the navigator of the littoral combat ship USS Coronado in San Diego. He now works in education in Nashville, Tennessee. Connect with him @t_delloue.

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The US military needs to burn down its zero-tolerance weed policy - Task & Purpose

Portraits of alleged victims of the Philippine war on drugs are displayed during a protest on July 22, 2019, in Manila.Image credit: Richard James Mendoza

Updated July 1, 2021 at 4:42 PM ET

After years of a deadly counternarcotics campaign that has riven the Philippines, the International Criminal Court is a step closer to opening what international law experts say would be its first case bringing crimes against humanity charges in the context of a drug war.

On June 14, the last day of her nine-year term as the ICCs chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda announced there was a reasonable basis to believe that the crime against humanity of murder had been committed in the war on drugs carried out under the government of President Rodrigo Duterte. Bensouda urged the court to open a full-scale investigation into the bloody crackdown between July 1, 2016, when Duterte took office, and March 16, 2019, when the Philippines withdrawal from the ICC took effect.

Said at first to be unfazed by the prosecutors findings of alleged murder under his watch, Duterte went on to rail against the international court in his June 21 Talk to the People, vowing, in an invective-filled rant, never to submit to its jurisdiction. This is bulls***. Why would I defend or face an accusation before white people? You must be crazy, Duterte scoffed. (The 18 judges on the ICC are an ethnically diverse group from around the world. And Bensouda, from Gambia, is the first female African to serve as the courts chief prosecutor.)

The drug war has been a signature policy of President Dutertes administration, and its brutality has drawn international condemnation. But for years the world has stood by as allegations of human rights violations accumulated, and Duterte barred international investigators. The findings of the chief prosecutor represent the most prominent record to date of the killings committed under the Philippines anti-narcotics campaign and set the stage for a potential legal reckoning for its perpetrators.

It wasnt a rushed decision, Manila-based human rights attorney Neri Colmenares says of Bensoudas three years of examination, which makes the case stronger. He says, It is not yet justice, but it is a major step toward that.

Bensoudas final report says the nationwide anti-drug campaign deployed unnecessary and disproportionate force. The information the prosecutor gathered suggests members of Philippine security forces and other, often associated, perpetrators deliberately killed thousands of civilians suspected to be involved in drug activities. The report cites Dutertes statements encouraging law enforcement to kill drug suspects, promising police immunity, and inflating numbers, claiming there were variously 3 million and 4 million addicts in the Philippines. The government itself puts the figures of drug users at 1.8 million.

The Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency reports more than 6,100 drug crime suspects have been killed in police operations since Duterte became president. But Bensouda says, Police and other government officials planned, ordered, and sometimes directly perpetrated killings outside official police operations. Independent researchers estimate the drug wars death toll, including those extrajudicial killings, could be as high as 12,000 to 30,000.

The international courts now former prosecutor based her findings on evidence gathered in part from families of slain suspects, their testimonials redacted from her report to protect their identities. She cited rights groups such as Amnesty International that detailed how police planted evidence at crime scenes, fabricated official reports, and pilfered belongings from victims homes.

Colmenares, who is a former congressman, says the police appeared to have a modus operandi. Sometimes the police would go into the house and segregate the family from the father or the son, and then later on the father and the son would be killed. The witnesses say that the husband was already kneeling or raising their hand, he says.

Colmenares says in the prevailing atmosphere of impunity in the Philippines, families are courageous for bearing witness.

Police have justified the killings by saying that the suspects put up a struggle, requiring the use of deadly force, a scenario they call nanlaban. Duterte himself said last week, We kill them because they fight back. Duterte fears that if drastic measures were not taken, the Philippines could wind up in the sort of destabilizing narco-conflict that afflicts Mexico. What will then happen to my country?

Bensouda rejects police claims that they acted in self-defense, citing witness testimony, and findings of rights groups such as Amnesty International.

In February, the Philippines own Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra conceded to the United Nations Human Rights Council that the polices nanlaban argument is often deeply flawed. His ministry had reviewed many incident reports where police said suspects were killed in shootouts. Yet, no full examination of the weapon recovered was conducted. No verification of its ownership was undertaken. No request for ballistic examination or paraffin test was pursued, he said.

Despite that, only a single case has resulted in the prosecution and conviction of three police officers for the murder of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos in August 2017, after the incident sparked national outrage. Police accused delos Santos, a student, of being a drug-runner, a charge his family denied. When the teenager was found dead in an alley, police said they had killed him in self-defense. CCTV footage contradicted the police version of events.

Bensouda buttresses her case by citing Dutertes 22 years as mayor of Davao City on the island of Mindanao, where her report says he publicly supported and encouraged the killing of petty criminals and drug dealers, ostensibly to enforce discipline on a city besieged by crime, a communist rebellion, and an active counterinsurgency campaign.

Former police officials testified to the existence of a death squad that acted on the orders of then-Mayor Duterte and which rights groups allege carried out more than 1,400 killings.

Bensoudas report says Dutertes central focus on fighting crime and drug use earned him monikers such as The Punisher and Duterte Harry, and in 2016 he rode that strongman image to the presidency in a country that had been battling drug syndicates for decades and was weary of crime.

In a 2016 address to the national police, he warned drug criminals who would harm the nations sons and daughters: I will kill you, I will kill you. I will take the law into my own hands. Forget about the laws of men, forget about the laws of international order.

American University international law professor Diane Orentlicher says the ICC prosecutor reached back to the ultra-aggressive approach Duterte first deployed in Davao City to show that there were the same kind of summary executions earlier in the Philippines. Orentlicher says it identifies continuity of certain patterns and the threat they pose over almost a quarter of a century.

While the finding of possible crimes against humanity is a significant step in the ICCs scrutiny, formidable hurdles remain before any prosecutor could formally name perpetrators or issue indictments.

Firstly, President Duterte denies any wrongdoing, unambiguously vows not to cooperate in an international court investigation, and could stonewall the effort in his last year in office. And despite the bloodshed, and mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic, Dutertes crude everyman image still appeals to a majority of Filipinos.

Orentlicher says building a crimes against humanity case is complex, involving potentially thousands of victims over time [and] over territory. While human rights activists would like to see Duterte in the dock, linking the alleged crimes to individual perpetrators is a massive evidentiary undertaking.

Powerful leaders facing scrutiny, she says, have been able to interfere with witnesses, obstruct justice [and] intimidate people who would be key sources for the prosecutor. While the most senior officials are the ones the public expects the world court to take on, Orentlicher says they are in the best position to keep a prosecutor from getting the evidence.

David Bosco, author of a book about the International Criminal Court titled Rough Justice, says its also entirely possible the judges may not authorize an investigation. Bosco says it would not be because the Philippine case lacks merit, rather he says the plethora of allegations involving possible war crimes from Afghanistan to Nigeria to the Gaza Strip has the court overstretched.

And even if the judges were to authorize an investigation, then youre talking about trying to launch an investigation when you have a hostile government, Bosco says. So I think this is a very long road before we get to any perpetrator seeing the inside of a courtroom.

But Bosco adds prosecutors who have opened an ICC investigation have also been content to have the case lie dormant for long periods.

And then they revive, he says. And so, we shouldnt ignore the possibility that there could be political changes in the Philippines that suddenly make a new government much more amenable to cooperating. So things could change.

Bosco says a potential investigation of the Philippines is also important because it raises the critical question: whether a state that has joined the ICC and then subsequently has come under scrutiny can immunize itself by leaving the court. As the chief prosecutor persisted in examining the countrys drug war, the Philippines withdrew as a member of the ICC.

Bosco believes the fact Bensouda sought authorization for her successor to open an investigation into the Philippines is an important signal that the court is still going to pursue countries that have left the ICC once theyve come under scrutiny.

Orentlicher says the court may look to the case of Burundi, the first country to leave the ICC. Prosecutors have continued to investigate alleged crimes against humanity committed in the country before it withdrew in 2017.

The focus on the Philippines comes at a time when countries around the world are questioning heavy-handed counternarcotics tactics. That includes the United States, whose war on drugs dates back to at least 1971 when President Richard Nixon called for an all-out offensive against drug abuse and addiction.

Over the last 50 years, weve unfortunately seen the War on Drugs be used as an excuse to declare war on people of color, on poor Americans and so many other marginalized groups, New York Attorney General Letitia James said.

Likewise, the former ICC chief prosecutor Bensouda notes that the Philippines drug fight has been called a war on the poor as the most affected group has been poor, low-skilled residents of impoverished urban areas.

Drug addiction, especially crystal meth, known locally as shabu, grips the Philippines. Just this month, the national police said that security forces have been seizing large volumes of shabu left and right, an acknowledgment that drugs remain rampant five years into the brutal drug war.

Calls are mounting for greater attention to drug prevention and public health for drug users. Heavy suppression efforts marked by extra-judicial killings and street arrests were not going to slow down demand, Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, told Reuters.

Edcel C. Lagman, a long-serving member of the Philippine Congress, recently wrote in the Manila Times that the ammunition needed in this war includes drug-abuse prevention education, skill training and well-funded health interventions to reintegrate former drug dependent into society.

The Philippine National Polices narcotics chief himself, Col. Romeo Caramat, acknowledged that the violent approach to curbing illicit drugs has not been effective. Shock and awe definitely did not work, he told Reuters in 2020.

Even if the ICC decides to open a formal investigation, Orentlicher says Dutertes defiance should not be underestimated. Journalists who have exposed the drug war have been jailed, and human rights advocates who have spoken out, including members of the clergy, have been threatened.

This is going to be a very tough process, Orentlicher says, not for the faint of heart at all.

Human rights attorney Colmenares maintains a cautious optimism that there will be a legal reckoning on behalf of the victims families who want justice.

It may be long and it may be arduous, Colmenares says, but thats how struggles are fought and thats how struggles are won.

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A World Court May Investigate The Philippines' War On Drugs That's Killed Thousands - WMFE

A residence in the 9300 block of Gorsuch Road on Vashon was included in a major search and arrest operation conducted by combined federal and local law enforcement agencies at 19 locations throughout the Seattle region in the early morning hours of June 30.

The takedown resulted in 12 indictments made later that day on charges of drug trafficking, according to a press release issued by Tessa M. Gorman, Acting United States Attorney for Western District of Washington. The press release listed names and places of residence of those indicted; none included Vashon as a place of residence.

Both Emily Langlie, communications director of the U.S. Attorneys Office, and Steve Bernd, spokesperson for FBI Seattle, confirmed that the residence on Gorsuch Road was a search location in the operation. Bernd additionally said that no arrests were made at the location.

The 12 people indicted on June 30 were charged with conspiring to distribute controlled substances including cocaine and cocaine base in the form of crack cocaine. They are:

Cresencio Moreno Aguirre, 41 of Kent, Washington

David William Armer, 41, Spanaway, Washington

Samuel Duarte Avila, 47, of Renton, Washington

Elyas Mohamed Kerow, 27, of Seattle

Brett David Radcliff, 21, of Puyallup, Washington

Sergio Reyes-Pina, 39, of Seattle

Herbert Dean Scott Jr., 49, of Burien, Washington

Rafael Ramirez, 49, Pacific, Washington

Cesar Arambula, 39, of Kent, Washington

Raul Barreto Bejines, 50, of Redmond, Washington

Jorge Aguilar Duran, 42, Issaquah, Washington

Viet Phi Nguyen, 34, of Seattle

Additionally, the press release detailed that two unidentified people who were were arrested in the raids on June 30 would be charged separately by criminal complaint and that two of those indicted are still being sought by law enforcement.

The raids were the second round of arrests in a two-year investigation by the FBI involving armed drug trafficking in the region; 24 other defendants were indicted in early April.

Over the course of the two-year investigation, law enforcement has seized 84 firearms, 16 kilos of cocaine, about 50,000 fentanyl tainted pills, $1 million in cash, a pill press, three pounds of methamphetamine, and some heroin.

The June 30 raids alone resulted in the seizure of 48 guns, two kilograms of cocaine, two pounds of methamphetamine, several thousand fentanyl pills and two illegal marijuana grows. An additional $120,000 cash was also seized.

On July 1, The Seattle Times also reported that a Seattle police officer shot a man in Puyallup on June 30 while serving a search warrant connected to the investigation.

The investigation was led by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force with key participation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Seattle Police Gang and Narcotics Units, Homeland Security Investigation (HSI), and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

The June 30 arrests and searches involved teams from FBI, DEA, Seattle Police Department, HSI, Pierce County Sheriffs Office, King County Sheriffs Office, Valley SWAT, Kent Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), and Narcotics/Currency/Firearms K9 support from Snohomish County Sheriffs Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Centralia Police Department, Auburn Police Department, Renton Police Department, King County Sheriffs Office, and Tacoma Police Department.

The pre-dawn operation on Vashon included helicopter support and lasted about an hour, according to islander Jacqueline Clayton, who lives nearby Gorsuch Road.

Clayton said she was awakened around 4 a.m. on June 30 by the sound of a helicopter circling tight and low, and heard law enforcement officers on loudspeakers giving instructions for people below to come out of the house, with their hands up. The helicopter left around 5 a.m., she said.

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War on Drugs Comes to Vashon | Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber - Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

Every week at All Saints Church we put our faith into action. This week we are urging President Biden to begin ending the War on Drugs by commuting the sentences of people incarcerated for federal drug offenses.

The War on Drugs has now lasted 50 years so lets be clear on a few facts that bear repeating.

First, since President Nixon started the War on Drugs in 1971, the government has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into law enforcement agencies, which has never-the-less failed to reduce drug abuse or overdose rates.

Second, the War on Drugs is a racist war that has led to the over-surveillance and incarceration of millions of people, who are disproportionately Black, Latinx, and Indigenous. Today, Black people are 3.64 times likelier to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people, despite similar usage rates.

Finally, the War on Drugs has not solved any problems associated with drug use and the majority of Americans are ready for a new approach based on public health 83% of voters across an otherwise divided political spectrum believe the War on Drugs has failed.

50 years of failed policy is 50 years too many. Tell President Biden to take action and begin to end the War on Drugs now.

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Faith in Action: July 4, 2021 End The War On Drugs - All Saints Church, Pasadena -

A task force of police, prosecutors, public defenders and Tenderloin community members pulled together by the city to figure out how to stem the tide of drug-dealing released its recommendations this week after a year and a half of work.

Create a new city-run body to coordinate efforts by dozens of Tenderloin organizations, police and the District Attorneys office to increase safety.

Allocate more funds for community safety and train community workers on de-escalation techniques and how to care for people who have trauma.

Offer treatment to people who deal drugs to feed their addiction. Enforce harsher consequences on repeat offenders who deal drugs but have no substance abuse problems - not longer sentences, but other measures such as possibly automatically revoking probation.

Create a 24/7 treatment center in the Tenderloin that takes away some of the existing barriers of wait lists and documentation, reach out to the community to make them aware of the options and offer therapy, as many people seeking drug treatment also struggle with mental illness.

Prioritize housing for people during and after drug treatment.

Create multiple safe drug-use sites where individuals can consume drugs in the presence of staff who monitor for overdoses, provide cleaning materials and refer to treatment. Such sites exist around the world but arent yet sanctioned in the U.S.

The task force is driven by a sense of urgency as the citys drug crisis has risen to a frightening new level, its report said. Overdose drug deaths multiplied from 259 in 2018, to 441 in 2019, to 712 in 2020. Fatalities this year are on pace to surpass last years, largely because of the potent opioid fentanyl. Most of the deaths occurred in District 6, which encompasses the Tenderloin, Civic Center, Mid-Market, and South of Market neighborhoods.

The insanely easy access to highly addictive and deadly drugs in San Franciscos Tenderloin district right now is shameful, said Max Young, a task force member and father who said the situation hurts families in the neighborhood.

Young closed his bar Mr. Smiths on 7th Street in 2019 because of rampant street drug dealing and said the same drug dealers remain outside his still-closed bar.

As long as we allow these guys to sell with impunity anywhere in the Tenderloin and not have any consequences, its never going to get better, he said.

Before the pandemic, there were about 24,500 injection drug users in the city, with an estimated 4,000 homeless, addicted and mentally ill.

The Task Force was created in late 2019 by legislation from Supervisor Matt Haney amid concerns that there wasnt a plan to deal with street drug dealing, he said. It included representatives from the District Attorneys Office, Police Department and Public Defenders Office as well as nine community members and the Department of Public Health.

A majority of the task force backed six recommendations, but not everyone agreed with all of them.

The failed War on Drugs has taught us that we cannot incarcerate our way out of this problem, and we need to continue to focus on new approaches, including comprehensive public health innovations, said Rachel Marshall with the District Attorneys office.

Stanford University Professor of Psychiatry Keith Humphreys, who focuses on addiction medicine public policy, said he was struck and impressed that a group in service-focused San Francisco urged stopping drug dealing as a law enforcement responsibility.

Its grappling with the reality that yes, there are people who deal drugs who are low-level addicted people and I feel really bad for them and I want to help them, Humphreys said. And there are a lot of people who are comfortable making money off doing something that kills people.

Haney said he supported all the recommendations.

The status quo is entirely unacceptable and is having devastating impacts on these neighborhoods, he said. We have to have the resolve to change it.

Public Defender Mano Raju took issue with the reports recommendations to focus on policing and prosecution as part of a broader strategy.

He said overcriminalizing and overpolicing Black, brown, poor and immigrant community members who are often victims of trafficking, duress, or acting out of dire conditions of poverty or illness, plays an outsized factor in the alarming level of desperation on our streets.

This reports recommendations to divert even more public resources to policing and prosecuting communities who so desperately need housing, employment opportunities, and public health care should be rigorously interrogated on its logic and motivations, he added.

Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter@mallorymoench

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Here's how SF plans to tackle 'unacceptable' drug crisis in the Tenderloin - San Francisco Chronicle