FILE PHOTO: President Rodrigo Duterte speaks after his arrival, from a visit in Israel and Jordan at Davao International airport in Davao City in southern Philippines, September 8, 2018. REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr. 
 
 MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose controversial war on drugs has killed nearly 5,000 suspected drug dealers and users since taking office in 2016, said on Monday he used marijuana to stay awake - and then said he was just joking. 
 
 The comment is bound to upset families of the victims of his crackdown on narcotics. Marijuana is illegal in the Southeast Asian nation and is not a stimulant. 
 
 “I use marijuana to keep me awake,” Duterte said in a speech, complaining about the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Singapore last month. 
 
 In Singapore, he skipped some meetings and took “power naps” to catch up on sleep, according to his spokesman. 
 
 “The more that the crescendo becomes faster, the more you cannot sleep because you are catching up on readings,” Duterte said. 
 
 Duterte, after his speech, told reporters he had been joking but a human rights activist criticized the attempt at humor. 
 
 “This will definitely anger the families even more. There is a disconnect between what the president admitted to do and what the president said he will do to those who use drugs,” Carlos Conde, Philippines researcher with the New York-based Human Rights Watch, told Reuters. 
 
 “Now, if the president admitted probably in jest ... then that demolishes the credibility of this whole thing.” ||||| FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2018, file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte listens to a speech during a ASEAN Plus China Summit meeting in Singapore. Duterte, whose controversial war on drugs has... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2018, file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte listens to a speech during a ASEAN Plus China Summit meeting in Singapore. Duterte, whose controversial war on drugs has cost thousands of lives, said Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, he uses marijuana to keep awake at long regional... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2018, file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte listens to a speech during a ASEAN Plus China Summit meeting in Singapore. Duterte, whose controversial war on drugs has cost thousands of lives, said Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, he uses marijuana to keep awake at long regional... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2018, file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte listens to a speech during a ASEAN Plus China Summit meeting in Singapore. Duterte, whose controversial war on drugs has... (Associated Press) 
 
 MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose controversial war on drugs has cost thousands of lives, says he used marijuana to keep awake at a recent regional meeting, but later disavowed his assertion as a joke. 
 
 Duterte made the comment Monday at an awards ceremony where he talked about attending last month's meeting in Singapore of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and how the schedules of such gatherings that run from morning until late at night is grueling. 
 
 "I use marijuana to keep me awake," the 73-year-old Duterte said, referring to the Singapore meeting. However, he later told reporters he was joking. 
 
 Philippine police say more than 4,800 suspects have been killed in the drug crackdown that began in July 2016 after Duterte took office. Rights groups have denounced the killings as extrajudicial executions and say the crackdown is unfairly directed at the poor rather than the kingpins in the illicit trade. 
 
 Duterte is known for making off-the-cuff remarks without much consideration for their content. Perhaps the most notorious was a joke he made in 2016 about the 1989 rape and murder of an Australian missionary, which roiled relations with Canberra. 
 
 After his remark about marijuana caused a stir, he explained to reporters that he was joking. 
 
 "It was a joke, of course it was a joke, but nobody can stop me from just doing my style," he was quoted saying by ABS-CBN, a leading radio and television network in the Philippines. 
 
 "If I want to joke, I will joke. Now, if you believe it, then you're stupid," he said. 
 
 In the past, Duterte has said he supported making medical marijuana legal, but his office said in May that he had reversed that stance. Possession of marijuana is punishable by a long prison sentence and a heavy fine in the Philippines.
– President Rodrigo Duterte has waged a controversially bloody war on drug dealers in the Philippines, but that didn't stop the leader from cracking wise Monday about his own use of illicit substances. Per Reuters, Duterte said in a speech that he used marijuana to stay awake at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which he attended in Singapore last month. After the comment caused a stir, Duterte clarified that he was merely kidding. "It was a joke, of course it was a joke, but nobody can stop me from just doing my style," he quoted by a local media network, per the AP. Possession of marijuana is punishable by a long prison sentence and a heavy fine in the Philippines. Philippine police say more than 4,800 suspects have been killed in the drug crackdown that began in July 2016 after Duterte took office. Rights groups have denounced the killings as extrajudicial executions and say the crackdown is unfairly directed at the poor rather than the kingpins in the illicit trade. (Duterte has also waged a war on corrupt public officials.)