DRUG use is a disease and not a crime, thus it needs a scientific approach, according to Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte.
Believing drug dependents deserve another lease in life, Belmonte said Sunday the people and the government should start seeing drug and substance abuse as a disease that needs curing.
She lamented the discrimination and stigma former and recovering drug users face in the society.
“We should approach the problem of drug dependency as a type of disease that affects behavior, and we should look at it as a health problem that needs sustainable treatment,” the vice mayor said.
Belmonte is the chairperson of the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council.
“Drug use is a disease, it is not a crime per se, unless you commit a crime as a result of it,” she said.
The vice mayor said it is high time to change the misperception that drug addiction is a “sin” that needs to be punished by the law, thus the “stigmatization or marginalization” of drug dependents even after they have recovered or declared clean.
“This is the reason why there is little sympathy for individuals who died of drug overdose compared to those who died of other causes, and drug dependents still find it difficult to look for meaningful work even after they have long recovered,” she added.
Meanwhile, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista welcomed the designation of Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel as the new director of the Quezon City Police District.
Esquivel shall replace Chief Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, who will now lead the Philippine National Police’s Region 4-A Office for Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.
Esquivel served as a deputy director for administration of the Quezon City Police District in 2016 before his promotion to a star rank in 2017.
“We welcome the return of Chief Supt. Esquivel to Quezon City. His performance as the principal deputy of General Eleazar was very impressive and we look forward to working with him at this exciting and challenging time,” Bautista said.
