Beyond the Drug War: Young People, Punitive Drug Policies, and Structural Violence in the Philippines

This article critically examines the effects of punitive drug policies on children and young people in the Philippines. Drawing from ethnography, policy analysis, and a narrative review of the literature, this article argues that drug policies have had a profound and multifaceted impacts on Filipino youth, from actual violence to the structural violence that they reflect and reinforce. In the first place, anti-drug campaigns—most recently and significantly Duterte administration’s “war on drugs” (2016–2022)—have led to direct harms, such as extrajudicial killings, incarceration, and psychological trauma, as well as indirect effects related to family disruption, community fear, and the erosion of trust in institutions. Beyond such violent campaigns, however, young people have been subjected to surveillance through drug testing. Meanwhile, young people who use substances like shabu (methamphetamine) and solvents (rugby) face stigma, discrimination, and ever-increasing threats of further criminalization, including proposals to lower the age of criminal responsibility even as socioeconomic contexts of their use of these substances are not addressed. Ultimately, it calls for a shift from a punitive to health- and rights-based approaches that center the welfare, dignity, and agency of young people.