# Killing drug dealers en mass like the Philippines is doing. Has this been done elsewhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171 "2016-09-06T04:45:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/1 "2016-09-06T04:45:38Z")
Per this story [Obama Cancels Meeting With Philippine President Who Called Him A ‘Son Of A Bitch’ “I don’t give a s\*\*t about anybody observing my behavior,” President Rodrigo Duterte said.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rodrigo-duterte-son-of-a-bitch_us_57cd7f45e4b0e60d31dfa6d4?section=&) the current policy in the Philippines re drug dealers just seems to be “kill them all” without even going to trial. Surprising in a nominally democratic country with rule of law. Has this sort of targeted killing of drug criminals been done before in any country? How did it work out long term as a deterrent? > [@](#): > > Since taking office on June 30, Duterte has launched an aggressive but simple campaign against suspected drug dealers and traffickers in his country: “Kill them all.” > > In the Philippines, hundreds of dead bodies have turned up on the streets, sometimes with crudely written notes of the person’s alleged crime, Public Radio International reported in August. > > Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa disclosed that more than 1,700 people have been killed since July 1, according to Amnesty International. > > Duterte since his inauguration has encouraged police “to double your efforts …triple them if need be,” and has applauded the street killings that human rights groups say amount to extrajudicial executions. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/2 "2016-09-06T05:06:38Z")
Sounds like a great opportunity to murder anyone you want in the Philippines. Just kill them, say they were a drug dealer, sprinkle some crack on them and get out of there. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/3 "2016-09-06T05:36:19Z")
Depends on what you mean. Death penalty for drug trafficking is nothing new, and countries like Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan employ it constantly. Extrajudicial killings, like in the Philippines of Duarte? That’s less common. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/4 "2016-09-06T05:41:00Z")
Without official sanction from the president of the country, in Colombia, Mexico… it’s usually called “drug wars” rather than “the war on drugs”. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/5 "2016-09-06T06:39:30Z")
I’m not advocating this at all, but if you did give police the right to just waste the worst of the worst it would probably have some good outcomes seeing as they know the worst. Longterm it would be corrupt and terrible. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/6 "2016-09-06T06:40:19Z")
The Thai government had a similar clamp-down in 2003, murdering about 2800 “suspected drug dealers.” (This was under Thaksin, now a fugitive from Thai justice though his sister is the recently deposed P.M.) That War on Drugs did succeed in forcing up the price of methamphetamine, which had been a very major scourge in rural Thailand. Many of the victims were not drug dealers, just rivals for whatever reason of the local governor or police chief. And some cynics say that the police chiefs planning the murders may have themselves been involved in drug traffic, and were happy to rid themselves of rivals. I’m surprised this murderous rampage (or his even deadlier operations in the South) by Thailand’s popularly elected P.M. isn’t more well known. Certainly many Americans pretend to know a lot about Thai governance when they criticized the military for removing the criminal civilian governments of Thaksin and his sister from power. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/7 "2016-09-06T18:12:13Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Sounds like a great opportunity to murder anyone you want in the Philippines. Just kill them, say they were a drug dealer, sprinkle some crack on them and get out of there. Beat me to it. Anyone can kill anyone now. Ex-lover? Noisy neighbor? Boss who laid you off? Business competitor? Drug dealers, all of them! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/8 "2016-09-06T18:38:23Z")
Sounds like the “top cop” plan for making Chicago crime-free that Trump is trumpeting. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/9 "2016-09-07T18:23:10Z")
It is an interesting social experiment. How much will hardcore drug use drop in the next few years? It’s hard getting too upset over scum that’s selling heroin, crystal meth and speed to people. They offer it to kids cheap to get them hooked. Then they pimp out the teen girls desperate for a fix. Really charming people. yeah, murdering this scum is wrong. It’s not what we do in the good ole upstanding USA. Ultimately a policy like this would target innocent people too. Maybe someone reading this thread. I’m still curious to see how effective it is. There will always be addicts and greedy, opportunistic dealers that supply them. But I suspect there will be a lot less street drugs in the Philippines 5 years from now. Hopefully it will also slow down the international drug trade too. Since it can’t pass through the Philippines. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/10 "2016-09-07T18:52:53Z")
I think killing the dealers may help a little but unfortunately at this point I don’t think any amount of deterrents will stop people from selling and buying drugs. If drug users were so worried about their health and safety they wouldn’t be on meth and heroin to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/11 "2016-09-07T18:59:53Z")
Wyatt Earp basically hunted down and shot a bunch of people who he considered to be criminals. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/12 "2016-09-07T19:01:03Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > The Thai government had a similar clamp-down in 2003, murdering about 2800 “suspected drug dealers.” (This was under Thaksin, now a fugitive from Thai justice though his sister is the recently deposed P.M.) That War on Drugs did succeed in forcing up the price of methamphetamine, which had been a very major scourge in rural Thailand. > > Many of the victims were not drug dealers, just rivals for whatever reason of the local governor or police chief. And some cynics say that the police chiefs planning the murders may have themselves been involved in drug traffic, and were happy to rid themselves of rivals. > > I’m surprised this murderous rampage (or his even deadlier operations in the South) by Thailand’s popularly elected P.M. isn’t more well known. Certainly many Americans pretend to know a lot about Thai governance when they criticized the military for removing the criminal civilian governments of Thaksin and his sister from power. What about drug usage among the local populace? ---
**Author:** ![WilyQuixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WilyQuixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WilyQuixote)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/13 "2016-09-07T19:24:43Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It is an interesting social experiment. How much will hardcore drug use drop in the next few years? > > It’s hard getting too upset over scum that’s selling heroin, crystal meth and speed to people. They offer it to kids cheap to get them hooked. Then they pimp out the teen girls desperate for a fix. Really charming people. > > yeah, murdering this scum is wrong. It’s not what we do in the good ole upstanding USA. Ultimately a policy like this would target innocent people too. Maybe someone reading this thread. > > I’m still curious to see how effective it is. There will always be addicts and greedy, opportunistic dealers that supply them. But I suspect there will be a lot less street drugs in the Philippines 5 years from now. Hopefully it will also slow down the international drug trade too. Since it can’t pass through the Philippines. Targeting an undesired class of people (and by extension, anyone considered to be part of that class) for sanctioned extra-judicial killings, is not “an interesting social experiment”; it is a time-honoured tradition that has no place in contemporary society. The result is always the same - it destabilizes society. Also, what makes you think this will slow down the drug trade? Even assuming the Phillipines is a significant transit point for drugs (I honestly have no idea), it is an archipelago of over 7 500 islands, vast unpatrollable coastlines, a number of militant seperatist groups, and a high levels of corruption, all factors which would faciliatate, not inhibit, a drug trade. As for the extra-judicial murders I strongly doubt that the extrajudicial murders targeted any regional Escobars. And I’m going to have to request a cite for your claim that dealers regularly sell discounted drugs to children; in most countries that’s a surefire way to draw unwanted attention and unnecessary trouble and sounds like a baseless anti-drug claim from 1985. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/14 "2016-09-07T19:51:35Z")
a few cites. Yes drug dealers target kids. > **[Middle schooler busted with ecstasy tries claiming pills were just Smarties](https://www.nydailynews.com/2016/04/08/middle-schooler-busted-with-ecstasy-tries-claiming-pills-were-just-smarties/)** > > This kid wasn’t being too smartie. Hard drugs made to look like Smarties candy were found on a California middle school campus, according to police. An Ione Junior High School student was all… > [@](#): > > Hard drugs made to look like Smarties candy were found on a California middle school campus, according to police. > > An Ione Junior High School student was allegedly caught sniffing what looked like candy during lunch period, according to Fox affiliate KTXL-TV. > > When the eighth-grader was approached about it, the student claimed the drug was just Smarties, according to an Ione police Facebook post. > > “Upon a subsequent test of the tablet, it tested positive for MDMA/Methamphetamines,” police said. [https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/know-drugs-ecstasy.html](https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/know-drugs-ecstasy.html) > [@](#): > > Ecstasy has become one of the most common illegal drugs sold on the streets. In the last few years, Ecstasy has sent many young people to emergency rooms because of its dangerous side effects. Ecstasy can kill. [https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/dec-info](https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/dec-info) > [@](#): > > “A drug endangered child is a person, under the age of 18, who lives in or is exposed to an environment where drugs, including pharmaceuticals, are illegally used, possessed, trafficked, diverted, and/or manufactured and, as a result of that environment: the child experiences, or is at risk of experiencing, physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; the child experiences, or is at risk of experiencing, medical, educational, emotional, or physical harm, including harm resulting or possibly resulting from neglect; or the child is forced to participate in illegal or sexual activity in exchange for drugs or in exchange for money likely to be used to purchase drugs.” > > Federal Interagency Task Force for > Drug Endangered Children (2010) > > As part of the President’s 2010 National Drug Control Strategy, the Department of Justice established the Federal Interagency Task Force on Drug Endangered Children to support the identification of model protocols, programming, and best practices related to this issue. ---
**Author:** ![WilyQuixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WilyQuixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WilyQuixote)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/15 "2016-09-07T20:34:24Z")
Thank you. lets have a look > **[Middle schooler busted with ecstasy tries claiming pills were just Smarties...](https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/student-busted-ecstasy-claims-pills-smarties-article-1.2593599)** > > This kid wasn’t being too smartie. I see sweets that look not dissimilar to medical tablets - as does ecstacy. This sounds more like a kid poorly disguising his drug of choice whilst at school amongst innocuous and superficially similar sweets rather then dealers making drugs to look like sweets in order to target a younger market. It also reminded me of this BS claim > **[Are Drug Dealers Selling Strawberry Meth to Kids?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/strawberry-quick-methamphetamine-warning/)** > > A rumor suggested drug dealers were selling pink colored methamphetamine known as 'Strawberry Quick' to children. Let's break this claim down. Especially as I can’t find a followup or independent version of this story. > **[Page Not Found](https://kidshealth.org/en/404.html)** > > 404 Huh? It doesn’t even imply that “young people” let alone children are targeted. At best you can infer they have access to ecstasy which is not even remotely the same thing. [https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/dec-info](https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/dec-info) [/QUOTE] Come now, are you even reading your own cites? This one is about neglected children with drug **using** and \*\*manufacturing \*\* parents. It has zilch to do wit dealers targeting kids. Three cites, neither of which support your point. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/16 "2016-09-08T04:45:39Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > What about drug usage among the local populace? Methamphetamine use DID plummet in rural Thailand as a result of Thaksin’s War on Drugs; and meth use had been a _very major problem_. Cane owners had been putting it in the drinking water of their cane-cutters! (When I asked my wife whether this annoyed the cutters, she laughed and said they would quit without it, and go work for someone else.) Bangkok and foreign commentators often cite the million-baht and thirty-baht programs as reasons for Thaksin’s popularity in rural Thailand; but when I talk to villagers, it is the sharp reduction in meth availability for which they most admire him. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/17 "2016-12-08T02:30:36Z")
To follow up here’s a photo series documenting what’s happening the Philippines. [‘They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals’](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/07/world/asia/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-drugs-killings.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/18 "2016-12-08T02:52:34Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It is an interesting social experiment. How much will hardcore drug use drop in the next few years? > > It’s hard getting too upset over scum that’s selling heroin, crystal meth and speed to people. They offer it to kids cheap to get them hooked. Then they pimp out the teen girls desperate for a fix. Really charming people. You understand that the only proof we have that any of these people were involved in drug dealing is the word of the people who murdered them, right? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/19 "2016-12-08T03:36:04Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > a few cites. Yes drug dealers target kids. > > [Middle schooler busted with ecstasy tries claiming pills were just Smarties – New York Daily News](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/student-busted-ecstasy-claims-pills-smarties-article-1.2593599) > [https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/know-drugs-ecstasy.html](https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/know-drugs-ecstasy.html) > [https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/dec-info](https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/dec-info) None of those cites indicate that drug dealers target kids. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171/20 "2016-12-08T04:26:20Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I’m not advocating this at all, but if you did give police the right to just waste the worst of the worst it would probably have some good outcomes seeing as they know the worst. Longterm it would be corrupt and terrible. I can see the point too. Assuming the police are targeting the worst of the worst, I could see how it could have appeal. However who is to say that other criminals won’t just fill the vacuum. Also what is to stop the cops from becoming corrupt and dishonest? [Brazil](http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/brazil-killer-cops)has death squads made up of police officers and military who targeted serious criminals. But I have no idea if it actually had a positive impact on Brazilian society. Crime still seems rampant. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-drug-dealers-en-mass-like-the-philippines-is-doing-has-this-been-done-elsewhere/765171.md?page=2)