Rehab addicts get younger
Drug-rehabilitation clinics say numbers attending have tripled but patients are getting younger, with some addicts just 10.
National Council on Social Welfare president Natthapat Inthuphuti said yesterday clinics were using methods known as therapeutic communities successfully. Addicts are housed in drug-free residential settings using a hierarchical model with treatment stages reflecting increased levels of personal and social responsibility. Natthapat cited a study of drug-dependence treatment using these methods by Dr Nolton Johnson of the Pacific Research Institute. It used 22 clinics in the study. The study reported methamphetamine dependence was down from 58 per cent to 3 per cent among patients, marijuana from 11 per cent to 2 per cent and opium from 4 per cent to 1 per cent. Thailand was best in reducing drug abuse at 82 per cent, compared with Peru at 56 per cent, the US at 40.8 per cent and the UK at 34.2 per cent. The council will train more staff in these methods starting in May, he said. Thanyarak Institute on Drug Abuse director Dr Boonruang Triruangworawat said the methods were effective, especially on young addicts. After a four- to six-month course the rate of relapse is just 5 per cent. The number of addicts attending his clinic had risen to 600 from 200 a short while ago but it was "astonishing" some were now turning up just 10 years old and were using strong drugs such as ecstasy and ice. Women now make up 20 per cent of all drug users at his clinic, up from 5 per cent, while the Thaksin Shinawatra drug crackdown had seen a rise in alcoholics attending, and they now made up 48 per cent of his patients.
|
