Integrated system needed for drug addicts: Expert<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Noted psychiatrist Dadang Hawari proposed on
\nSaturday an integrated system -- a combination of medical,
\npsychological and religious therapies -- to effectively cure drug
\naddicts and reduce the percentage of relapse.<\/p>\n
Dadang said the existing system has failed to provide
\nsatisfactory results.<\/p>\n
"Many programs offered only focus on the medical aspect.
\nSometimes, the addicts are caged and made unconscious," he told a
\nseminar here.<\/p>\n
The number of drug addicts in the country is reported to be
\naround 1.3 million, with a mortality rate of 17.16 percent.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, drug consumption is reported to be the equivalent
\nof around Rp 100,000 (US$10) to Rp 300,000 per person every day
\nwith a total turnover of marketed drugs of between Rp 130 billion
\nand Rp 390 billion daily.<\/p>\n
Recent data shows that drugs also caused medical problems
\namong drugs addicts with 53.37 percent of them suffering from
\nlung disease, liver dysfunction 55.10 percent, Hepatitis C 56.63
\npercent and HIV and AIDS 33.33 percent.<\/p>\n
According to Dadang, several hospitals who used the integrated
\nmethod were able to reduce relapse cases from around 43.9 percent
\nto 12.21 percent.<\/p>\n
"In reports of the number of patients who have returned to
\nhospitals for treatment, out of the total of 2,400 patients
\ntreated in the hospitals from 1997 until 1999, there were 293 who
\nsuffered relapses," he said.<\/p>\n
The integrated method is divided into three forms of therapy:
\nmedical, psychological and religious.<\/p>\n
In the medical therapy, patients are given a major
\ntranquilizer for neuron-transmitter system dysfunction. They are
\nalso given analgesic drugs which are nonaddictive, and
\nantidepressants.<\/p>\n
Patients and their families also receive counseling and
\nreligious therapy according to their beliefs.<\/p>\n
"The principle is to seek medical help and God's forgiveness,"
\nDadang said.<\/p>\n
There is a high correlation between religion and relapse
\ncases, he added.<\/p>\n
"Patients who pray daily only have a 6.83 percent risk of
\nrelapse. Patients who pray occasionally have a 21.50 percent risk
\nwhile for patients who don't pray at all the risk is 71.67
\npercent," Dadang said.<\/p>\n
Influence<\/p>\n
According to Dadang, the highest contributing factor to
\nrelapse is friends' influence estimated at 58.36 percent,
\nsuggestive factor, 23.21 percent and stress, 18.43 percent.<\/p>\n
Dadang admitted that the program is rather expensive, ranging
\nfrom Rp 6 million to Rp 20 million for patients who must undergo
\ntreatment in hospitals.<\/p>\n
"But those who can't afford hospital treatment can be treated
\nat home and monitored by parents. There is also generic medicine
\nwhich costs Rp 300,000 to Rp 400,000," he said.<\/p>\n
The important thing is, Dadang said, the addicts must stay at
\nhome, they must be prohibited from seeing their friends, cannot
\nreceive phone calls and must not smoke cigarettes.<\/p>\n
"Cigarettes can be a trigger," he said.<\/p>\n
Curing drug addicts is certainly not cheap, he added,
\ntherefore drug problems should really be overcome.<\/p>\n
"With all this data available about drug abuse, I still wonder
\nwhy the government has yet to take stern action against drug
\nabuse in this country," Dadang said.<\/p>\n
He proposed a more powerful body directly under the President
\nso that it would have more authority, like the United States'
\nDrugs Enforcement Agency (DEA).<\/p>\n
The existing National Drugs Commission Board (BKNN), he said,
\nis not effective and has little authority. (hdn)<\/p>",
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