This is with reference to the report quoting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as saying “Drug users aren’t human” (Aug. 29). I admire Duterte for his no-nonsense approach in fighting crime and corruption but I don’t agree with his views about drug users or addicts. They are as humans as anyone of us is. It would be difficult for Duterte to fight the menace of drugs while espousing such views. In most of the developing or underdeveloped countries, people usually don’t get hooked to drugs for fun. I am not at all trying to justify their addiction but using such harsh words to describe them is wrong.
In the fight against drugs, Duterte also needs to identify the factors that lead to drug addiction; factors that force an individual to run from the doom and gloom of life. Try to change the situation and I am sure it will help. Such statements will only have a negative impact on the law-enforcers of the country, who then might be encouraged to take extrajudicial measures or commit excesses on the pretext of fighting the menace of drugs. — Yameen Zafar, Madinah
Not a nice approach
