Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group, Wageningen University and Research, 4032, De Leeuwenborch 201, Wageningen, the Netherlands; Department of Anthropology, University of the Philippines Diliman, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines; Development Studies Program, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City 1106, Philippines.
Int J Drug Policy. 2024 Aug;130:104518. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104518. Epub 2024 Jul 13.
This paper examines the political constructions of people who use drugs in the Philippines throughout the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte (2016-2022), during which the government engaged in a 'war on drugs' and promoted a punitive drug regime.
Building on and drawing inspiration from the global drug policy scholarship that has looked at the ways in which drugs are framed and problematised in various domains, this study used qualitative content analysis to review 96 documents from national government agencies - including strategic action plans, directives, memorandums, guidelines, annual reports, and legislative measures.
Foremost, the study finds that various terms were interchangeably used to refer to 'drug users' - dependent, offender, personality, abuser - and all of them contributed to the problematisation of people who use drugs as a societal "menace". As "drug dependents", they were likewise portrayed as necessitating treatment or rehabilitation. Moreover, presented as victims or passive subjects, their agency and subjectivity are not acknowledged in the documents, even as counter-discourses, mainly from opposition lawmakers, challenge these portrayals and call for people-centered, harm reduction approaches.
Overall, these overlapping framings cast people who use drugs simultaneously as victims, criminals, deviants, and sick individuals to the detriment of their security, health, and well-being - and to the retrogression of drug policy in the country.
本文审视了在菲律宾罗德里戈·杜特尔特（2016-2022 年）总统任期内，将吸毒者视为罪犯的政治建构。在此期间，政府发起了一场“禁毒战争”，推行了严厉的禁毒政策。
本研究借鉴了全球毒品政策研究的成果，该研究探讨了毒品在不同领域被框定和问题化的方式，并在此基础上采用定性内容分析方法，审查了来自国家政府机构的 96 份文件，包括战略行动计划、指令、备忘录、准则、年度报告和立法措施。
首先，研究发现，各种术语被交替用来指代“吸毒者”——依赖者、罪犯、人格障碍者、滥用者——所有这些术语都促成了将吸毒者视为社会“威胁”的问题化。作为“药物依赖者”，他们也被描绘为需要治疗或康复。此外，尽管反对派议员提出了一些反对意见，呼吁采取以人为主、减少伤害的方法，但这些文件并没有承认他们的能动性和主体性，而是将他们描绘为受害者或被动的主体。
总体而言，这些重叠的框架将吸毒者同时描绘成受害者、罪犯、越轨者和病人，损害了他们的安全、健康和福祉，也使该国的毒品政策倒退。
