Thailand's Drug Strategy: Mass Murder Thousands of Drug Suspects
Via DrugWarRant, Thailand's new prime minister has pledged to continue his nation's shameful quest to maintain the most brutally evil drug policy in the world:
It is the temptation of any drug warrior to seek the gradual removal of any and all safeguards that impede progress towards purging and destroying the enemy. In America, we raid houses based on unreliable informant testimony, we confiscate property without establishing guilt, we tamper with juries, conceal exculpatory evidence, intimidate witnesses, overvalue seized contraband at trial, and we interpret and/or adjust our laws as needed to ensure that the people we accuse of drug crimes are convicted and punished quickly and severely.
The consequence of all this, ultimately, is that innocent people can't defend themselves from the drug war any better than the guilty. It is for this reason that you'll never hear American drug warriors rise to condemn human rights abuses fueled by foreign drug wars. Our political leaders thoroughly lack the moral standing to preach about the due process of drug prohibition.
Rather than becoming placated by the observation that our own drug war could be far worse, let us ask ourselves what sorts of vicious atrocities await should we ever dare to take our eyes off American drug warriors for even a moment.
"My government will decisively implement a policy against drug trafficking. Government officials must implement this policy 24 hours a day, but I will not set a target for how many people should die," said Samak Sundaravej, the new prime minister.They've tried it before, but it didn't work, so they're trying it again:
The interior minister Chalerm Yubamrung, said: "When we implement a policy that may bring 3,000 to 4,000 bodies, we will do it," [Telegraph]
During a three-month killing spree in 2003 as intense as a full-scale armed conflict, thousands named on police "black lists" were shot dead, allegedly on government orders.What can even be said about this? It is just a perfect exhibit of the fact that drug prohibition will still fail even when taken to the greatest heights of inhumanity and totalitarianism.
Yet the government's narcotics control board concluded that more than half the victims had no involvement in drugs. One couple from north-eastern Thailand were shot dead after coming into unexplained wealth and being added to a black list. They were, in fact, lottery winners.
It is the temptation of any drug warrior to seek the gradual removal of any and all safeguards that impede progress towards purging and destroying the enemy. In America, we raid houses based on unreliable informant testimony, we confiscate property without establishing guilt, we tamper with juries, conceal exculpatory evidence, intimidate witnesses, overvalue seized contraband at trial, and we interpret and/or adjust our laws as needed to ensure that the people we accuse of drug crimes are convicted and punished quickly and severely.
The consequence of all this, ultimately, is that innocent people can't defend themselves from the drug war any better than the guilty. It is for this reason that you'll never hear American drug warriors rise to condemn human rights abuses fueled by foreign drug wars. Our political leaders thoroughly lack the moral standing to preach about the due process of drug prohibition.
Rather than becoming placated by the observation that our own drug war could be far worse, let us ask ourselves what sorts of vicious atrocities await should we ever dare to take our eyes off American drug warriors for even a moment.
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