The Philippine president whose drug control policy comes out of the end of a gun should think about aiming at a new target: himself.
Rodrigo Duterte is the leader of a government addicted to killing drug dealers and users — 12,000 so far. Not that that's enough for Duterte. "Hitler massacred three million jews," Duterte has said. "There are three million drug addicts. I'd be happy to slaughter them."
But if Duterte's gonna model himself after history's greatest monster, he should throw himself in the cattle car. Because Duterte himself slipped a smidge toward addiction, he admitted, abusing fentanyl.
After a motorcycle accident at 68 permanently damaged his spine and left him in perpetual pain, Duterte got too happy too regularly on the fentanyl, an opioid stronger than heroin. His doctor prescribed the fent — it's super effective at erasing pain, and its common in hospitals and ambulances. But Duterte, now 73, felt the good feels fent gives and started sneaking four times more fent than his prescription called for, to the point that his doctor had to cut him off — the straight-up definition of problematic or illicit use.
"The doctor stopped it because he got mad," Duterte said in a speech in Davao City. "I’m supposed to cut it into four pieces. And there was a time na 'yung buo nilagay ko [when I taking the whole thing] because more than just the disappearance of pain, you feel that you are on cloud nine."
Clearly, Duterte understands addiction, that it's a short step from legitimate medical use to fun pills, that there's a fine line between easing pain and upping pleasure.
Ironic because it's a human failing he says he's personally killed people for.
Fentanyl is what killed pop star Prince, causes overdose deaths in tens of thousands of Americans and is creeping into other drugs.
After Duterte's confession spread, Duterte got ripped in the Philippine papers for his bad faith about drugs — although not too harshly, since Duterte also murders journalists.
But a political opponent named Leila de Lima called out his fat face. “Duterte should stop taking fentanyl because obviously it has already driven him to madness and to fits of paranoia where everyone he sees is either a drug addict or a drug lord,” she said. “Mr President, stop abusing drugs so for even one single second you can experience a lucid interval and discover how crazy this drug war witch-hunting has become."
The BBC grilled Duterte on how he can countenance capping drug users when he himself is "highly dependent on drugs." Duterte replied, "I’m not an addict. Only when it is prescribed. Addiction is only with regularity, my friend.”
This is not true. He over consumed. That's problem drug use.
Redditors suggested that Duterte's drug use means it's open season on him. "Wouldn't this mean that all citizens get a free pass to murder this motherfucker? Hope someone capitalizes on that," one wrote. "Hope the fent kills him," wrote another. "I hope he ODs."
Duterte's hypocrisy does not end there. He has "migraines and other ailments caused by drinking," the AP reported. Drinking! Alcohol is a drug! And he recently said he asked his doctor for more painkillers — but the doctor doesn't want to give them to him.
Sounds like an addict to us.
In recent days, Filipinos are speculating that Duterte has cancer. He'll almost certainly get more pain pills then — many cancer patients do. And in terms of drug hypocrites, Duterte — known as "The Punisher" — might be the world front-runner, in front of every other Drug Warrior who jailed stoners then spent their weekend blackout drunk and every mom who tossed out your whippets but hung on to her Xanax.
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