More than 654,000 people, who surrendered to the police at the height of the aggressive campaign against illegal drugs during the past administration, have graduated from the rehabilitation program, the Philippine National Police (PNP) disclosed on Thursday, Nov. 17.
The PNP-initiated Recovery and Wellness Program runs from one to three months and was launched when thousands of suspected drug pushers started to surrender when reports of deaths of suspected drug pushers and users began to pile up.
Based on the PNP data, a total of 1,231,894 suspected drug pushers and users surrendered since 2016.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, Jr. said the 654,228 who graduated from the Recovery and Wellness Program represent 53.11 percent of the total of drug personalities who surrendered.
The Recovery and Wellness Program is the centerpiece of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Operations through Reinforcement and Education (ADORE), which is the final phase of the PNP anti-drug strategy, the Chief PNP explained.
“This is the new face of the anti-illegal drugs campaign of the police that is at the fore of the national strategy against the country’s drug problem,” Azurin said.
“We are hitting hard on the sources of illegal drugs to disrupt or break the supply chain. At the same time, we are pursuing the demand reduction strategy with renewed vigor by promoting drug abuse awareness prevention and resistance education among the vulnerable sectors of society," he added.