Encouraging to see the development of 538 Love for understanding of substance use disorders.

A couple of points. Most health care providers and health scientists no longer use the term 'drug abuse'. And I have yet to see clear evidence that “We are seeing drug abuse rates climbing around the country."

Onwards,

Jamie

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Recovering from addiction takes love
Phoe Wa
Myanmar Times
28 December 2018

Myanmar is the number one methamphetamine producing nation in the world today, and the second biggest producer of opium. Between the country’s locality in and near to the infamous Golden Triangle, the activity of combatant groups, lack of border control and effective policing and social development, drugs remain a serious challenge to the development of the nation and a threat to the livelihoods of millions of Myanmar people. For this reason, The American Centre launched in October “528 Love”, their new drug awareness campaign designed to plant seeds of understanding and action-planning to aid at-risk communities.

The campaign hosted a conversation with mixed martial arts super-star Aung La Nsang, known as the ‘Burmese Python’, on December 12 in support of its message. Aung La will be a Myanmar public spokesperson for the campaign and shared the stage with US AID health adviser Robert Kelly to discuss and promote the new program.

The stated aim of 528 Love is to spread science-based understanding of drugs and drug dependency for the benefit of family and friends of people using or addicted to hard drugs. By providing health-related information on these issues, the campaigners hope to sensitise and de-stigmatise problems surrounding drug addiction and ultimately open more doors to people seeking treatment and security.

The phrase “528 Love” is a common and recognisable term of endearment used in the local parlance to symbolise the kind of love that is shared between parents and their children, between siblings and among friends. As such, expressing “528 love” between each one another can give people the strength to overcome.

“Some drug-users are afraid to speak to their family members about the issue because they fear their families with reject them. Speaking honestly with one’s own family should not be embarrassing,” Mr Kelly said.

The campaign encourages people to share their feelings on Facebook, or directly with one another and their families to better cope with the trauma and conflict of having a friend or loved one become addicted to drugs. A launching event attendant who identified as Ma Thida told The Myanmar Times that they were using the communication technique with someone and that it had been highly effective.

“The 528 Love Campaign is about fixing families and creating support networks. Being addicted to drugs is a form of being sick, and it requires treatment, support and love,” Mr Kelly said.

The campaign further disseminates accurate information concerning drugs and treatment every week to better educate and rally families around the cause. In addition to community development and drug harm minimisation, the campaign is funded by the US AID HIV/AIDS flagship (UHF) Project.

The choice of Aung La as spokesperson for 528 Love is no accident. Kachin State, being one of the great opium growing regions of Asia and afflicted with high rates of drug addiction, now has one of its brightest sons leading the charge against its decay.

“Drug use is prevalent among the youth of Myanmar, so I want to urge people to resists drugs themselves, and offer their love and support to those suffering addiction. We should fight drug abuse together, that’s how we can win,” Aung La said. “I had a member of my own family who struggled with drugs, so this campaign concerns me directly,” he added.

Among Kachin youth, HIV resulting from unclean intravenous needle injection is alarming high. According to USAID, Wine Mor township suffers 47 per cent infection rate, Bamor township suffers 45 per cent infection rate and Myitkyina township 35 per cent.

“We are seeing drug abuse rates climbing around the country. There needs to be careful planning for this,” Mr Kelly said.

The 528 Love campaign began in October, 2018 and will ends in May, 2019.

https://www.mmtimes.com/news/recovering-addiction-takes-love.html