Illegal drugs trade must stop; so must the savagery used to stop it

Let us be crystal clear:  The drug menace must stop. Goodness, we hate drugs, too. There should be no two minds about it.

Yet the apparent serial summary executions of alleged street drug users or petty drug lords, which appear sudden, too contrived and predictable, must also stop.

The two are not incompatible. And each of them may be a long, hard, challenging and frustrating undertaking, but you can stop one without automatically or instantly doing the other as a practice or policy.

The madness must stop. Quick-fix savagery and abuse of power by law enforcers, supposedly to quell criminality and illegal drugs—which, wittingly or unwittingly, directly or indirectly, are encouraged, condoned or sanctioned—is a Frankenstein that will haunt us all over time. The cure may turn out to be worse than the illness.

Human rights are not only for the criminals or dregs of society as some may think or believe. It is more to protect the far too many others who are innocent or turn out to be innocent. Enough already.

—EDRE U. OLALIA, secretary general, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, [email protected]