Free rehabilitation helps drug users

Free rehabilitation helps drug users

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Doni has given up hope of coming off drugs as his father told him
the family would not shoulder the cost of his rehabilitation
program.

"I have been in and out of rehabilitation centers. I am tired
of living like this," the 25-year-old vocational school graduate
said. "But, when my mother had a heart attack, I knew that I must
find a way to quit drugs."

The injecting drug user was lucky when a friend told him about
a free detoxification program at the Bhayangkara Police Hospital
in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta.

Fifty drug addicts are housed on the hospital's second floor
under the program, the collaborative project of several non-
governmental organizations, which began last month and will end
early in August.

"We focus more on psycho-social treatment ... medication
comprises just 30 percent of the withdrawal process," said Gigok,
a volunteer for the program who was formerly a drug user. "Each
phase lasts for 10 days, the first three days are done with
medication and the rest is group sharing."

Since the treatment is given for free, the addicts are given
generic medication.

"The medication does little to help overcome the pain caused
by the addiction," said Doni, adding that in a way the pain of
the withdrawal process would remind him not to touch them again.

Doni who has spent 11 days on the program is actually allowed
to go home.

"I am afraid of the influence of my surroundings -- getting BR
(slang for drugs) in my housing complex (in Tanjung Priok, North
Jakarta) is as easy as opening my window and reaching outside,"
he said.

Damaging community influence and family rejection can
seriously jeopardize a drug user's chances of rehabilitation.
In the program, which adopts the Narcotics Anonymous method, the
addicts are encouraged to share their problems and fears.

"We meet for an hour every morning, afternoon and evening,"
said Gigok. The drug users, who come from all over Jakarta,
really open up in the sessions.

But after the sessions are done, the drug users, many of whom
have lost the skill of being creative with their time, have
nothing to do.

"After the sessions we just sit around, watching TV or playing
music," said Doni.

"It should take more than this to cure an addict," he said.
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