The fundamental things apply

Standing outside a patient’s room at the height of the campaign frenzy last week, I was stopped by a man who greeted me warmly and then all but pushed Duterte and Marcos “voter IDs” on me. A little taken aback, I quickly said, “No, thank you,” and the man raised an eyebrow as though I had personally offended him. Then he said casually, “Oh, so you’re not a voter?” I clarified that I was, but I didn’t share his choice of candidates.

The man looked at me disdainfully and said airily, “Alam mo ’yang si Mayor Duterte, magaling yan. Kapag nanalo na siya, wala siyang awa; ipapapatay niya talaga lahat nang kriminal at lahat nang adik. So I guess matatakot ka lang bumoto sa kanya kung kriminal o drug addict ka.” And with that last pointed reminder and an equally pointed look, he flounced off and made himself popular with the pro-Duterte staff at the nurses’ station.

I had long stopped associating the presidential candidates with the behavior of their supporters. With all the mudslinging in print, on TV and social media, one thing that’s certain is that nothing we read about politicians (or their supporters) is likely to be 100-percent true. After that episode, however, I do want to discuss two things that are 100-percent true: that drug addiction is a problem, and that drug addicts are people, too.

The Philippines, unlike many of its neighbors, has yet to pass a comprehensive mental health law supporting the access of Filipinos to mental health services. Many legislators, among them vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo, have long been pushing for coverage for mental health issues. The World Health Organization, in a 2007 report, noted that 5 percent of the total budget for health goes to mental health, and that most of this is dedicated to the maintenance and upkeep of mental health hospitals. While 5 percent may seem large when compared to other more visible and apparently pressing health concerns, I’d like to issue the reminder that (as this column has said before) the brain is an organ like any other; mental illness is fully deserving of treatment, attention and, ultimately, financial coverage. Drug addiction is one cause, symptom and effect of mental illness. To receive treatment for it is not only expensive and harrowing, but is also further hampered by the stigmatization of drug addicts during the escalating war on drugs.

Drug addicts and the pushers who supply them are often vilified as the bottom feeders of society, who uphold and perpetuate a problem that propels (as then presidential candidate Duterte liked to say) criminality and corruption. We think of addicts as emaciated people engaged in shady deals and rotting in basements and empty warehouses, eyes bloodshot, injecting themselves with drugs while their dealers laugh evilly on and men higher up in the ladder of power just get richer and richer. However, drug addicts are not merely criminals but also victims; the two are not mutually exclusive. They are victims of their own mental illness, and the archaic attitude of mere punishment is simply unacceptable in this day and age. Long gone are the days when the only option for drug addicts was to lock them in cells and to starve them of their drug of choice. While treatment options in the Philippine landscape are still limited, health professionals are at least slowly beginning to look on addiction as a legitimate mental illness and to focus on compassionate, responsible and holistic rehabilitation. People don’t lose their human identity just because they have used drugs.

“People who use drugs can rarely rely on access to the service and health-care provision which is their human right,” says a 2014 report on human rights by the International Network of People Who Use Drugs. “People who use drugs cannot rely on not being arbitrarily detained, harassed, abused, arrested or incarcerated. [They] are subject to violations of their bodily integrity, to torture, to compulsory labor camps masquerading as ‘treatment,’ and to execution.”

Does that last bit sound familiar? That’s because what most people see as the answer to the country’s drug problem—an opinion that is not only uneducated but also inhumane. Multiple news portals last month quoted presidential candidate Duterte as saying that he would kill even his own children if they ever used drugs. However true, untrue, or merely flippant this statement might be—after all, despite his harsh words for drug addicts and pushers, Duterte has devoted significant funds and resources to the repair and upkeep of a rehab center in Davao—it is symptomatic of the attitude that many people hold regarding drug addiction, and the perpetuation of this attitude is unacceptable.

Respect for human rights must always be at the heart of drug control, and the management of addiction should focus less on criminalization and more on treatment. Despite his brash proclamations, Duterte clearly doesn’t intend to execute all drug users and might even (we dare to hope) be a force for change in the way we manage drug offenders, balancing their accountability and their need for rehabilitation. It’s about time his supporters and the rest of the electorate followed suit. Let this millennial voter issue the gentle reminder that, as the song goes, the fundamental things apply: that to even the lowest and most pathetic, to the most criminal, and to the most mentally ill, to the most addicted and the most abused and abusive, human rights must always apply.

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