With The Aim Of Making Thailand A Drug-Free Country, Thousands Join Drug Rehab Courses

[webfact]

Thousands join drug rehab courses

Anupan Chantana ,

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Half a million addicts have undergone voluntary rehabilitation over the past year, the most since the country started fighting drug use

With the aim of making Thailand a drug-free country, over 500,000 addicts have joined the government's voluntary rehabilitation programme over the past year, but about 100,000 of them could not overcome the habit and need treatment again.

"This is the most drug addicts getting rehab treatment ever recorded in Thailand since we started fighting against drugs many years ago," Permpong Chaovalit, deputy secretary-general of the Narcotics Control Board (NCB), said recently.

The drug problem, which had become more and more severe, threatening the security of people's lives and property, prompted the NCB and four other agencies to team up and launch the rehabilitation programme last October.

The four partners are Metropolitan Police, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's Health Bureau, the Army and the NCB's Bangkok division.

It was aimed at cutting the number of drug addicts nationwide by offering treatment on a voluntary basis without prosecution - unlike the previous practice of sending them to jail first.

The government has set the goal to get 400,000 drug abusers to attend the rehab programme this year. Now over 508,850 people dependent on several kinds of drugs such as methamphetamine (yaba) and crystal meth (ice) have attended the programme and were able to overcome addiction.

The Public Health Ministry estimates that about 1.3 million people became addicted to drugs and up to 60 per cent of them are in Greater Bangkok. This was why the government is making the problem part of the national agenda and will uphold the principle that drug abusers are patients in need of rehabilitation.

According to the NCB's report, 319,911 drug abusers received treatment at hospitals and rehab centres in 2003, as the government had considered drug abusers as patients who need treatment.

A few years later, the number of drug abusers who received treatment had plummeted to only 40,000-60,000 per year from 2004-07 due to the government's intense drug war. Most of the prisons nationwide were also full and there was no space for drug offenders.

To reduce drug demand, the NCB has set up 1,000 rehab centres in communities and district hospitals nationwide.

Drug abusers are required to apply to the programme at these centres. They will be screened and sent to the military-style rehab centres.

They will take 15-90 days to undergo rehab, depending on the length of their addiction. After the rehab programme is completed, the NCB will follow up four times a year to ensure that they do not return to the habit again.

The NCB found that only 20 per cent of rehabilitated drug addicts in the past 12 months had returned to drugs.

In Bangkok, about 5,000 drug addicts aged over 19 have received rehab treatment and 50 of them had returned to drugs. They returned to drugs because they returned to their previous life, Chakkree Premsmit, assistant director of the NCB's Bangkok office, said.

Most people become drug addicts because of family problems. Some were abandoned by their parents, and some were forced to take drugs by friends. The drug control agency found that some people were addicted since they were 19.

"We have to find out how to prevent them from returning to drugs," Chakree said. He has ordered agents to search for drug abuse in neighbourhoods across metropolitan areas and encourage families to persuade users to get drug rehab treatment.

"Most of them don't want to enter a rehab programme because they're afraid they'll be recorded as a criminal," he said.

The drug control agency has to convince drug abusers that they will be treated as a patient and not a wrongdoer because drug addiction is a brain disease that required behavioural changes, he said.

Niyom Termsrisuk, director of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's Narcotics Control Office, expressed concern that young drug abusers had increased by 60-70 per cent. He found the youngest drug abuser was nine years old, while the oldest was 60.

Dr Viroj Verachai, director of Thanyarak Institute, a treatment centre for drug dependence, said substance abuse treatment agencies should carefully check the health of all drug abusers, especially for congenital diseases before providing rehabilitation treatment or sending them to a rehab centre.

Some of them had committed suicide as they had suffered from depression and stress for a long time. They need special medication before getting substance abuse and behavioural treatment.

"We found that some of them had died from congenital disease during the rehabilitation programme as they were not screened for health problems," he said.

Jarunee Siriphan, of Population Services International, said the lack of evaluation of the quality of services inside drug treatment centres and the porous and patchy follow-up system indicated that the government had applied a "war on drugs" strategy without concern for the welfare and quality of life of people who use drugs.

-- The Nation 2012-09-24

[webfact]

Addicts tell peers: Sign up and get straight

Anupan Chantana,

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Kaew, 17, could hardly speak coherently after she started smoking crystal methamphetamine, or "ice", two months ago. But she repeated, "I didn't want to try it. My friends pushed me into it." Her uncle took her to a drug-treatment facility where she would enter a 15-day behavioural-change programme.

Developed by the Army's 9th Infantry Division and the Narcotics Control Board's Bangkok branch, the programme is designed to help addicts kick the habit and start new lives.

The schedule is divided into three days for orientation activities, nine days for behavioural change and three days for preparing the participants for their return to society as good citizens.

"We are telling all participants that they are good people," Captain Tanapong Paetpittaya, the chief trainer, said last week.

"No matter what other people say about them, they must appreciate the value of their lives and stick to it."

A 15-year-old boy said the programme had rehabilitated him physically and mentally.

"We do a lot of exercises. We learn a lot," he said. "I will never abuse illicit drugs again." He started taking methamphetamine last year because his friend gave him some yaba pills.

A 14-year-old girl said she was kicked out of her school last year because she was hooked on "ice".

"My mum was heartbroken. I volunteered for the drug treatment. I'm determined to not touch that stuff again," she said.

Pornpan Singruang, a trainer, said the programme offered advice on how to live one's life well and where to find motivation in life. "We also provide vocational training to ensure that the participants can earn a living later on," she said. "And if they return to their lives and come across any problem, they can come back to us to seek more help."

Even if the project cannot guarantee that all graduates can give up drugs, it will definitely teach them that there is more to life than what they used to think.

"We are showing that there are other paths of life that they can choose," she said. "With our treatment programme, they don't have any criminal record. They won't be prosecuted."

Aey, 17, said she decided to join the programme because she believed she had hurt her mother too much already.

"I was dismissed from school six months ago. I have consumed and sold drugs," she said. At the urging of her friends and out of her own curiosity, she had tried both yaba and "ice".

"Now, I would like to tell others that the illicit drugs are no good. Think twice before you try. You're not going to look more beautiful with illicit drugs. They will just make your life worse," she said.

A 12-year-old girl said she used to think she was getting slimmer and her face was getting more shapely after taking drugs.

"But after completing the drug treatment programme, I'm determined to never turn back to drugs. I will say 'no' even if my friends push me," she said. She lives with her parents, who both supported her effort to give up drugs.

Tanapong hopes drug abusers and their parents would have the courage to bite the bullet and seek treatment.

"If you're afraid to send your children to a drug-treatment programme, you're misleading them," he said.

Suwan, surname withheld, a 42-year-old mother, said she hopes the programme would reform her daughter.

"I want her to be good," she said. "Drug abusers hurt not only themselves but also their families."

And the regime appears to have worked.

"My daughter seems to |be much more mature after completing this programme."

-- The Nation 2012-09-24

[jackr]

We have to find out how to prevent them from returning to drugs

\

I vote to ship them off to Australia.

[theblether]

Thaksin policy.............shoot to kill suspected drug dealers on sight. Who knows how many innocents were slaughtered?

Current policy.............offer rehabilitation and help, rather than criminalizing and jailing.

Drug usage is a mental health issue, that then causes severe physical effects.......yes go after the Mr Bigs, but treat the people that were drawn into the drug trap as human beings and give them a chance to get their lives back.

The current policy has my vote.......big Like from me.

[cgphuket]

Good that Thailand admits the drug problem, however, Thail Govt, drug treatment is about 120 years behind modern models. Last month all 400 patients at a Krabi rehab ran away the same day after a patient was killed (rumors were that he was beat to death by staff). In reality, Thai drug patient relapse rates are about 90%. Too bad Thai Govt. decines all offers to help from Western drug treatment agencies. (Not want farang advice; bad for face)...

[ggold]

I query th figures, 500,000 equates to over 1369 busts per day over a year, and the year isn't over! Anyone else know of a country where that number of drug bust occur in one year. I didn't think so!

Sent from my GT-P6200 using Thaivisa Connect App

[asiawatcher]

The numbers are all over the place and some very outdated data. Notwithstanding that, drugs are a scourge of all societies not just Thailand. Thailand will never get to drug free status, ever, but the rehabs are a start. The problem has to be tackled on both supply and demand sides. In any country where drugs can be sold easily and money is free flowing for same, it will always remain. Certainly tougher penalties for drug dealers is essential, but the addicts once hooked become the victims to these dealers. It is deliberate, calculated and continuing to increase as greed motivates without thought to fellow humans. Dealers are the lowest form of life on this planet.

[LuckyLew]

I lost interest in the article when the re-iterated the goal of making

Thailand drug free

The people who came up with this crack piper dream cannot be stupid

enough to think this is possible

[HeavyDrinker]

The key point here is that drug rehab is an individual challenge which varies hugely from person to person. Treating it like some sort of jamboree and dressing everyone up in nice uniforms and telling them to be good citizens is not the way to go about it.

While the sentiment is to be applauded, the methods employed here are ridiculous.

[angsta]

Will the Red Bull Ferrari police killer be attending to address his cocaine problems or is it just the poor people again?

[likewise]

The whole system is a joke, translating for the court and coppers I've seen that everybody who can pay his bail gets released, in the that time he//she has the time to go and pay off whoever needs to be paid off, quite often this is the prosecutor..... and when the case goes to court the charges have suddenly diminished...... It's all for show but in reality it's chaos all around.

Unless...... if the person doesn't have money, then he will go to jail straight away...... Sad but harsh reality !

Edited September 24, 2012 by likewise

[noitom]

As another poster queried, whatever happened to that Red Bull , Ferrari, cop killing, bribery, and obstruction of justice case? Was it drugs and alcohol? Has the driver, hit and run, alleged killer been indicted?

The preliminary new stated his blood alcohol was over the limit, but were there drugs as well? Has anyone heard any news about this Ferrari , hit and run where the cop was dragged two football fields through the streets of Bangkok? Does anyone know anything further about this Ferrari dealership owned by the Red Bull owner in partners with the Singha beer owner? http://www.cavallino.co.th/press.aspx

What's the latest news? Is the newspaper intending to let this one just die?

[hanuman2543]

It is unbelievable how much crap is written in the first aricle. When more than 500 000 people went through rehab this year alone, who is consuming the drugs the police confiscate every day? How many yabas and how many kilos of ice just last week? 1,2 or 5 million tablets, 100-500 kg Ya ice?

"The government has set the goal to get 400,000 drug abusers to attend the rehab programme this year. Now over 508,850 people dependent on several kinds of drugs such as methamphetamine (yaba) and crystal meth (ice) have attended the programme and were able to overcome addiction."

What??????? Thailand should tell other countries with drugproblems how they've done it. Nearly nobody is going back to addiction? 100% success rate? Amazing Thailand

"The Public Health Ministry estimates that about 1.3 million people became addicted to drugs ..." See first paragraph. Another white lie?

"In Bangkok, about 5,000 drug addicts aged over 19 have received rehab treatment and 50 of them had returned to drugs." That would be Nobel-Prize worthy

"Most people become drug addicts because of family problems. Some were abandoned by their parents, and some were forced to take drugs by friends."

The real reason is, that many people have no chance of a successful and satisfying life here. It is time to change the structure of Thai society. Second, many people are making a comfortable living from selling drugs or covering up the trade.

"...because drug addiction is a brain disease that required behavioural changes, he said." Since when??????????????????

The whole article is full of hot air and has no credibility. How the massive drug problem is treated here is a joke in itself and the whole program is a joke too. The pseudo-scientist which designed and evealuate the program are not worth the money they getting.

Another big white lie to cover up the rampant drug use and a big excuse for the incapable politicians.

What are they smoking? I want some

The only good good thing is that addicts are no longer regarded as criminals. The first step in the right direction

Edited September 24, 2012 by hanuman2543

[simple1]

I query th figures, 500,000 equates to over 1369 busts per day over a year, and the year isn't over! Anyone else know of a country where that number of drug bust occur in one year. I didn't think so!

Sent from my GT-P6200 using Thaivisa Connect App

In 2009 alone, 1.66 million Americans were arrested on drug charges

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2109777,00.html#ixzz27M37kTmv

[hellodolly]

As another poster queried, whatever happened to that Red Bull , Ferrari, cop killing, bribery, and obstruction of justice case? Was it drugs and alcohol? Has the driver, hit and run, alleged killer been indicted?

The preliminary new stated his blood alcohol was over the limit, but were there drugs as well? Has anyone heard any news about this Ferrari , hit and run where the cop was dragged two football fields through the streets of Bangkok? Does anyone know anything further about this Ferrari dealership owned by the Red Bull owner in partners with the Singha beer owner? http://www.cavallino.co.th/press.aspx

What's the latest news? Is the newspaper intending to let this one just die?

Well two things come to mind. The first is why are you trying to avoid the theme of rehabilitation for drug addicts here in Thailand?

The second thing is the so called drug treatment rehabilitation government sponsored programs here in Thailand. The government recently announced that alcohol is a drug. It is a generally accepted statistic that 10% of the population in the world is addicts of one kind or another (different drugs). That would mean 6,600,000 addicts in Thailand.Most addicts take a long time in there addiction before they are ready to accept treatment. 15 days or 0ne month does not change a deeply ingrained way of life.

Back where I came from they had treatment centers many private and some government. A lot of them were 28 day programs. They for the most part had very reasonable programs and the clients were in a protected zone. After 28 days they were released back to the same conditions they had left only this time there was not a lot of protection around them and they soon relapsed. We called them 28 day spin dry centers. I was involved with helping out on a volunteer basis at one. They tried several different programs. The last one while I was there was called harm reduction. It was completely different than any other they had tried.

They called all the volunteers to a barbeque where they explained the new program. They started off with they had only been able to achieve a 8% success rate with there other programs. Also many of those success had gone through several treatment centers. For the most part the clients were not forced to go it was a voluntary thing. Some the government paid some insurance companies paid and some the people paid them selves.

Here in Thailand you get arrested for drug using and really have no choice. The fact is many of them are young and just going through that stage in there life and they will naturally grow out of it. They are not all addicted. How many of us went through a stage where it was the thing to do go out get drunk smoke some weed pop some pills and as we matured we just seemed to slow down to being a normal person the odd drink and the odd toke but never to get blasted out of are mind. Some a glass of wine with there meal. All a far cry from where they had been in there early years. The government sponsored treatment centers are a place where an addict can go get rested up and go back to where he was before he went into the program. In short useless.

[a99az]

So as I read it thousands of Thai people volunteer to go into rehab in anticipation of another crack down! Sorry but there are two things that just don't go well together "anticipation and Thai" My wife can't anticipate anything so we have to run out of stuff first. And yes it is that funny.

[CMFarang]

Hello Dolly has it about right.. These drug treatment centers in Thailand are a joke.

I have personally participated in 2 of these centers , and was I SHOCKED ! My opinion, the wards were full of kids who got caught smoking a joint, or were at a party where someone was caught with drugs on their person , so they all end up in the Rehab, where MR BIG is getting Good Thai $$ to say these addicts (?) are getting off drugs and staying that way.. An utter JOKE.

I have worked with drug addicts , including Thai Addicts , and these were kids who had never had the chance to develop into a Full Blown addicts.. Experimenting with drugs was all they were guilty of.

Now those statistics used, so misleading.. as to be Hilarious.. When I asked how they got their #'s, I was informed that after 1 year , the addicts who had attended the course were written a letter and of those WHO RESPONDED, 90% had not started using drugs again..

So let the Centers self govern, provide their own statistics, Eat up that Government $$ , and let the real addicts suffer.. All in the cause of easy $$..

Common, TiT, do you actually believe any of this Government Hype ???

[candid]

Although living now in a village, and before that in Pattaya and Isaan, I have never met anyone who has gone through drug rehab in Thailand. Forced or voluntary, must be people I never meet or mix with. However, when Chalerm trumpeted his 508,000 rehab patients in a year, I worked it out that an average of 1 in 32 Thais must be on a programme. Take away the schoolchildren, take away the older adults, and that is the figure I came up with.

That a government minister would spout these figures, which at face value show Thailand has just about the largest drug problm in the world was just plain dumb.

[AleG]

Of course is good that people are being helped (in whatever measure it may be), to overcome their addictions, but the numbers given are just not credible.

The government has set the goal to get 400,000 drug abusers to attend the rehab programme this year. Now over 508,850 people dependent on several kinds of drugs such as methamphetamine (yaba) and crystal meth (ice) have attended the programme and were able to overcome addiction.

I wonder if they use the same methodology as TAT to count tourists. Kid gets send to rehab, one person joined, gets rehab 'ed. Next month same kid comes back, that's two persons joined, gets rehab 'ed again, two more success cases. And so on and so forth.

Yes, it's cynical, but claiming that the reduced drug addicts by 40 or so percent in one year is not credible.

[paz]

After the obvious cultural differences, I don't seen anything different in this approach, compared to ones that exists in the Western world or pretty much anywhere else.

I do not see any exportable success in rehabs programs in the Western. To be honest they are probably a large waste of time and money for everybody, worldwide. The society can do up to something, then ultimately the outcome is with the individual attitudes. But the governments must do something anyway to show they aren't inactive on the matter.

Edited September 24, 2012 by paz

[Colabamumbai]

"Thailand a drug free country." They are going to have to kill a lot of manufacturers and destroy labs in Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cambodia. Rehabilitating people does nothing to make a country drug free.

Legalize speed pills and sell them in pharmacies, as they did 20 years ago in Thailand. This will end all illicit manufacture and sale of the drug and put money into government use, ie, for rehabilitation.

What came first.....the demand for the drugs or the manufacture of the drug? The answer should be obvious.

[cup-O-coffee]

Sounds positive.. but...

[paz]

"Thailand a drug free country." They are going to have to kill a lot of manufacturers and destroy labs in Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cambodia. Rehabilitating people does nothing to make a country drug free.

Legalize speed pills and sell them in pharmacies, as they did 20 years ago in Thailand. This will end all illicit manufacture and sale of the drug and put money into government use, ie, for rehabilitation.

What came first.....the demand for the drugs or the manufacture of the drug? The answer should be obvious.

The world is not ready and largely not willing to have drugs liberalized. Thailand cannot make legal any substance that is prohibited every where else . They even try to reduce use of tobacco and alchool by mean of heavy taxation. A can of beer being the same price than in the US or Europe but the salary 1/4th. I think that the intentions are probably good, we can discuss on methods, results and the politics associated, despite what I said in my previous post I still prefer a government that sends yaba users to rehab rather than jail.

Edited September 24, 2012 by paz

[hellodolly]

"Thailand a drug free country." They are going to have to kill a lot of manufacturers and destroy labs in Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cambodia. Rehabilitating people does nothing to make a country drug free.

Legalize speed pills and sell them in pharmacies, as they did 20 years ago in Thailand. This will end all illicit manufacture and sale of the drug and put money into government use, ie, for rehabilitation.

What came first.....the demand for the drugs or the manufacture of the drug? The answer should be obvious.

The world is not ready and largely not willing to have drugs liberalized. Thailand cannot make legal any substance that is prohibited every where else . They even try to reduce use of tobacco and alchool by mean of heavy taxation. A can of beer being the same price than in the US or Europe but the salary 1/4th. I think that the intentions are probably good, we can discuss on methods, results and the politics associated, despite what I said in my previous post I still prefer a government that sends yaba users to rehab rather than jail.

"The world is not ready and largely not willing to have drugs liberalized"

You have hit the nail on the head there.

Portugal has liberalized drugs to a certain degree. It has saved them money on policing and the court system. Not only have they not been arresting as many addicts as before but they also have seen a reduction in the crimes addicts performed to get money for drugs.

Part of the addiction for some people is the life style and for needle users a lot of them have a love affair with the needle no matter what is in it. Portugal still has problems but not to the degree they had before.

Edited September 24, 2012 by hellodolly

[bigbamboo]

I lost interest in the article when the re-iterated the goal of making

Thailand drug free

The people who came up with this crack piper dream cannot be stupid

enough to think this is possible

Next up should be a course for policemen wishing to cleanse themselves without having to go the temple and become corruption free.

Well, why not........... they started it!

[JoeLing]

Just wonder, is the occasional recreational drug user an addict?

(I like that word - recreational)

[Markaew]

The Thai people don't pay attention to Thai laws any more than they pay attention to foreign teachers. Waste of time.

[JoeLing]

Good that Thailand admits the drug problem, however, Thail Govt, drug treatment is about 120 years behind modern models. Last month all 400 patients at a Krabi rehab ran away the same day after a patient was killed (rumors were that he was beat to death by staff). In reality, Thai drug patient relapse rates are about 90%. Too bad Thai Govt. decines all offers to help from Western drug treatment agencies. (Not want farang advice; bad for face)...

I do not think that foreign drug rehabs are more successful then the ones here in Thailand

at all. In fact I believe Thailand has two of the most successful drug treatments available.

I watched this documentary about Thamkrabok Monastery (I think it was on BBC)

and it seams their success rate is astonishing, definately better than most, very expensive

western rehabs

Then is Thaksins rehab, shoot on sight , not very human but 150% success rate.

[AleG]

Just wonder, is the occasional recreational drug user an addict?

(I like that word - recreational)

An addict is someone what is psychologically or even physically unable to control their urge for a certain substance or activity, and thus his functionality as a person is impaired. A recreational user can go on with his life as normal.

It's one of the tragedies of these "Drug Wars", putting everyone in the same bag in terms of punishment and alienation.

I have friends who smoke marijuana regularly, they are perfectly able persons, even brilliant individuals who could have their lives ruined for the benefit of politicians claiming to be tough on drugs. That's really all there is to it, the drug wars have not solved the problem, it's only gotten worse, but it has proven to be a good political tool to obtain and accrue power.

[Neeranam]

Good that Thailand admits the drug problem, however, Thail Govt, drug treatment is about 120 years behind modern models. Last month all 400 patients at a Krabi rehab ran away the same day after a patient was killed (rumors were that he was beat to death by staff). In reality, Thai drug patient relapse rates are about 90%. Too bad Thai Govt. decines all offers to help from Western drug treatment agencies. (Not want farang advice; bad for face)...

I'd say it is more like 40 years. I'm an alcoholic and drug addict and was told by 'leading' doctors, including the head psychiatrist of a main hospital's alcohol dependency unit that it was safe for me to drink one or two beers a week, as I hadn't had one for 5 years. Anther thing that happened in the West about 40 years ago was the liberal handing out of benzodiazepines(eg valium) to alcoholics(and others). This is still going on in Thailand(although changing slowly) - turning alcoholics into zombies and of course, not getting to the root of the problem.

I was actually asked to work full-time in a Thai drug treatment centre a few years ago to implement the setting up of a 12 - step program, I declined as it against the traditions of the program. However, I was asked to go many times to offer help. (Don't know where you get the idea that they don't want farang help). A few years on and there are 15 other government hospitals in Isarn, and many more around Thailand that have started 12-step meetings and they desperately want farang with experience to help.