The Philippine National Police (PNP) will embark on a drug education program as part of what it describes as a holistic approach that will also focus on the demand reduction of illegal drugs in the country. PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said one of the main targets of the reinforcement and drug education is the youth in a move to cut drug addiction on the young generations and eventually end the cycle of drug dependency. “Our Chief PNP, General Benjamin Acorda, Jr., has made it clear that the aggressiveness that the PNP employs on enforcement should also be seen in the reinforcement and education,” said Fajardo. “This will be a holistic approach when it comes to reinforcement and education and our main target is the youth in order to show to them the harmful effects of illegal drugs,” she added. Fajardo made the statement after President Marcos said there were abuses in the conduct of police operations in the past administration’s drug war—which  resulted in the death of more than 6,000 people, most of them drug users and street level pushers. The past administration’s drug war has been the subject of intense criticisms over alleged human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings, including over 100 children who were caught in the crossfires.  Marcos’ first chief PNP, Rodolfo Azurin, Jr., has recalibrated the drug war that focused on rehabilitation, less bloody and assurance of rule of law, as he explained once that he would rather see illegal drug players suffer through long years of detention rather than instantly killing them. The same strategy is apparently being pursued by Acorda, but would focus more on drug education.  In pushing for the synergy of enforcement and education, Acorda was quoted likening the illegal drug problems in the country to a pyramid wherein those from below, the street level pushers, are only replaced once they are either arrested or killed. “So our target now is the prevention side, we will remove the demand aspect in our campaign against illegal drugs because it follows that if nobody would buy illegal drugs, then the supply would be reduced,” said Fajardo. She added that part of the strategy is coordination with the other government agencies like the local government units in drug education and enforcement, and with the military and the Coast Guard and other agencies when it comes to drug