Info Re-drug Addiction Required

[andrewn]

Hi,

Can anyone help me please. I wish to get some info on the options for helping someone with drug addiction in Bangkok. The drug in question is ice.

Are there any help centres, treatment clinics/etc where people can go (if necessary as an inpatient) in Bangkok?

I'd also like to understand how much the drug costs, and the addiction. Getting info from the addict is obviously not the most reliable source. I believe a gram is about 2500-3000 baht.

How long would a gram last? (smoking) if the user is relatively new to it? I know resistance builds up over time and longer term users will get through a lot more.

This is a genuine appeal for help. Please don't reply just to give me unhelpful moral viewpoints - there is a young child involved.

Sincere thanks to anyone who can help.

[Patsycat]

Have a look in the Health part of the forum, I am sure you will find lots of advice there.

Good luck

[Sheryl]

See this thread

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/List-Treatme...nd-t331595.html

And also check out the website of Narcotics Anonymous in Thailand

Wat Tambok (?sp) is free. So is Narcotics Anonymous. Other places listed in the thread are not but costs will vary.

While you ask about places in Bangkok, it is often advisable to have the addict in a facility not in their home town (cuts them off from their source of supply and friends who are also users).

If this is a Thai national, there are government programs but I don't know much about them. Local government hospital could advise.

Ice is about the worst thing he/she could be using. Damages the brain in ways that take a year of sobriety to wear off and, if use was at all sustained, may be permanent. As a result of that damage such people are extremely hard to help, because unlike users of many other substances they do not think clearly even when not high.

With a child involved, be sure that other family members are aware of the problem and be prepared to report it if there is any question of child endangerment. For Thais there are government agencies for child protection, if a foreigner, then the appropriate embassy.

[andrewn]

See this thread

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/List-Treatme...nd-t331595.html

And also check out the website of Narcotics Anonymous in Thailand

Wat Tambok (?sp) is free. So is Narcotics Anonymous. Other places listed in the thread are not but costs will vary.

While you ask about places in Bangkok, it is often advisable to have the addict in a facility not in their home town (cuts them off from their source of supply and friends who are also users).

If this is a Thai national, there are government programs but I don't know much about them. Local government hospital could advise.

Ice is about the worst thing he/she could be using. Damages the brain in ways that take a year of sobriety to wear off and, if use was at all sustained, may be permanent. As a result of that damage such people are extremely hard to help, because unlike users of many other substances they do not think clearly even when not high.

With a child involved, be sure that other family members are aware of the problem and be prepared to report it if there is any question of child endangerment. For Thais there are government agencies for child protection, if a foreigner, then the appropriate embassy.

Hi Sheryl,

Many thanks indeed for your reply and information.

Yes, the person is a Thai national (female). The family are aware of the problem, and the girl is living with her mother and father. They are supportive, trying to break her off the habit too - they are keeping an eye on her and not permitting her out of the house. However I also think they don't quite know the seriousness of this particular drug, and I get the impression she may have been managed to get hold of a bit here and there over the last month since my original post.

Unfortunately I don't know for sure how long she was smoking it, and to what extent. I have been told 6 months, and a couple of grams a month. That is more likely therefore to mean 1 year+ and usage building up to a gram+ per week - this is what I would summise from being in regular daily contact with her for the last couple of years.

From what you say, there is well likely to be permanent damage. She had complained in the initial few days after my first post of "torture" and aching bones, which must be an indicator of heavy and quite longterm use.

I will try to broach the subject of discussing with the local hospital to see what government help is available, but I would expect that to be refused. Thanks for the tip re-finding a treatment place out of the home town.

I am back in Thailand in the next 10 days. Fearful of what I will find.

Many thanks again for your help

[JohnLeech]

The Thanyarak Clinic is recognised by the UN as the best in SE Asia, with programmes for most addictions from smoking to yaa-baa. Having gone there with a friend (not as a patient!) some time ago I was amazed at the cross section of people queueing patiently to be taken - no queue jumpers, no social preference, just a lot of people all in the same boat trying to get help for a friend or relative.

I am afraid the website is only in Thai, but there are numerous references to it elsewhere. Good luck - I think you, she and the family will all need it.

[andrewn]

Hi John,

Thanks a lot for that. I will look into it when in Bkk next week.

Have finally found out today that she has been using again, since my original post which was when it was all meant to stop. It will be much smaller amounts at least, as the money supply has dried to a trickle and relatives also aren't lending.

[ianf]

Hi John,

Thanks a lot for that. I will look into it when in Bkk next week.

Have finally found out today that she has been using again, since my original post which was when it was all meant to stop. It will be much smaller amounts at least, as the money supply has dried to a trickle and relatives also aren't lending.

Try the Asian Harm Reduction Network. My son was making a film about the drop in centres in BKK, so they exist. The organisation is based in Chiang Mai

[Somrak]

There is good hope, as amphetamins do not make physically dependent!

It is "only" a head thing and as i know more easy to stop taking amphetamins then to stay away from alkohol.

Do may go with her / send her for some time to a other, new place. May holliday on a beach, or ....., where she has no access to the drog.

Edited April 21, 2010 by Somrak

[SunSeek01]

http://www.thamkrabok.org.au/

You can check this. Better be sure though, they only get one try here.

[louialive]

I am sorry to here about this young ladies plight, I do hope she will be able to beat this addiction. Not that it makes too much difference but how old is she?

As has already been mentioned if you are able to get her away from her surroundings and friends/influnces then this can be a great help.

I have worked with addicts in the past in the UK. Due to their problems they are usually very sneaky, sellfish and will do many things to get money to get their fix. If the money runs dry then they have no feelings in stealing from family and relatives. If the family have valuables they treasure then best they get them away without it being to obvious.

If she has been using for a long time (year or more) get professional help if possible away from home. Get her away from the people who can be a bad influence on her. It is somestimes very difficult for people too close i.e.family to deal with someone with addiction as there are too many emotions.

I cannot recommend anywhere in Thailand as I do not know of any, but addicts are the same no matter what counrtry they are in.

Good luck and hope you find the right help for her

[mrtoad]

There is good hope, as amphetamins do not make physically dependent!

It is "only" a head thing and as i know more easy to stop taking amphetamins then to stay away from alkohol.

Do may go with her / send her for some time to a other, new place. May holliday on a beach, or ....., where she has no access to the drog.

Hmm, not necessarily the case in respect of Ice, which is what the OP's friend is using. Certainly coming off ice is a little different to bog standard amphetamine. The Turning Point document by Lee et al 2007 states, "Potential treatment options following withdrawal (which may reduce the risk of relapse and provide an opportunity to engage clients in ongoing treatment. As methamphetamine withdrawal can be longer and more protracted than withdrawal from other drugs (such as alcohol and opiates), the environment and support play key roles in the client’s ability to maintain motivation for change and complete withdrawal. Clinicians should also normalise the experience of prolonged anxiety and depression as a result of a protracted recovery period and provide support and assistance in managing these feelings."

From experience of working with Ice users the withdrawal can be pretty unpleasant there are a number of physical health points that need to be checked, along with the potential aspects of depression, psychosis, anxiety, anger, insomnia and cognitive deficits. Methamphetamine produces more dopamine than using cocaine by three times as much - thus reducing the persons ability to experience pleasure.It is a particularly tough drug to come off, and should not be seen a "only a head thing" - there is plenty of information by a number of Doctors out there on the net in relation to the physical dependency that ICE causes (I can't be bothered to cite it all here), there is, as in most cases of addiction a lot more to it than that. I wish the OP the very best of luck.

[bjoe97]

there is a Japanese website that is excellent

look for it, then try to get some translation

take, and folow what they say and you will do les harm than a drinker

because it teaches one to take ice, the least harmful of all the so called hard drugs safely

ice is not psychical addictive, so easy to kick

my friend has been on all his life, from 24 to 60- and in great shap

one stopped for 5 years- no problems

ice here is NOT ice..please understand this, it is similar, but does fuc_k you up, make you addicted, the process is far different

it is one strep up from yaba

[meom]

What you are referring to is probably 4-methylaminorex which also used to be called ice or euphoria. It has some similarities with amphetamine but is a lot smoother. Pretty hard to get and a lot of people have never even heard about it since ice is normally slang for crystal meth.

In Thailand when people talk about ice they mean crystal meth and not 4-MAR.

[bjoe97]

exactly- 100% true

there is very little "ice" as it is in japan in Thailand.

The other stuff causes far more harm, ice is not going to improve your health, but certainly will not do the same damage as the other stuff and can be taken with minimal negitive effects