It is rare to see an article on heroin use that shows compassion for those suffering from the disease of drug dependence. There is a spark of compassion in this article.
Does the UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimate that up to 300,000 people may be drug addicts?
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Escaping the opium nightmare: drug rehabilitation
Shwe Yee Saw Myint
Myanmar Times
Monday, 25 February 2013
Ko Kyaw Thu’s mother died in a car accident after he replaced one of her tyres with a worn-out one - Ko Kyaw Thu had sold the good tyre to buy money for drugs. He was later arrested and sent to jail for drug possession – while he was inside, his brother became a drug addict and died.
By the time he was released, his family was bankrupt.
Although Ko Kyaw Thu has many regrets, he is trying his best to help others by acting as chairperson to the National Drug User Network of Myanmar.
“I am trying to save the lives of young drug users by sharing my own experiences with them and listening to their problems,” Ko Kyaw Thu Said.
According to government figures, there are approximately 70,000 registered drug users in Myanmar. The vast majority of newly registered addicts use heroin.
However most addicts are reluctant to register with the authorities and go through rehabilitation out of fear of being arrested at the hospital. Many feel caught in a catch-22 because registration is a requirement when seeking treatment. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that up to 300,000 people may be drug addicts.
Thirty-two-year-old “Scum” was once a well-known musician – he has tried to abandon his drug habit several times, but so far without success. He began taking drugs at the age of 14.
“Heroin is like a curse,’’ he said.
He adopted the name “Scum”, he said, because “that is how society treats drug users.”
Scum was arrested for possessing heroin just as he was completing his final year exam in English at Yangon University of Foreign Languages, so he never went to university. He enjoys reading books and is obviously intelligent – he once dreamed of becoming a film director, getting married and building on his music career.
“Before I was arrested, I thought ‘This is the best time in my life and I’d decided to stop using heroin. I relied on self-help, drinking methadone that I bought on the black market to help me get off it. I didn’t go to rehab because my family was worried that I would form contacts with other drug users,” he said.
Dr Gyaw Htet Doe, technical advisor at the Substance Abuse Research Association and a retired senior consultant psychiatrist at the Mental Health Hospital told The Myanmar Times, “To stop using a drug without any support is very difficult. Most people need to go through rehab and have the support of their family, so undergoing treatment at hospital is the best course of action. To successfully wean themselves off a drug addition, it’s necessary to spend at least three or four months in hospital.”
The Department of Social Welfare is responsible for providing drug rehabilitation services – at present just nine exist and treatment is not free.
“So if a patient can’t afford treatment, they don’t come to hospital,” Dr Gyaw Htet Doe said.
No international assistance is provided to Myanmar and although there are seven NGOs providing support to drug users, services are limited to preventing HIV being transmitted intravenously, he added.
Scum believes that: “Medicines such as methadone can cure the physical addiction, but not the mental one. That’s why people relapse time and time again.”
However he said that he appreciates the relief methadone brings whilst trying wean off heroin, plus the fact that it is legal.
When Scum was released after serving a four year sentence, he became a registered drug user and regularly underwent methadone treatment at a hospital.
Methadone treatment became available in Myanmar in 2008 and Dr Gyaw Htet Doe said that to date, some 80,000 patients have used it.
Drug laws in Myanmar are severe: for example, possessing marijuana can result in a seven year prison sentence.
Dr Gyaw Htet Doe said, “Imprisoning drug users is not the solution. In fact, it can make the situation worse in terms of HIV/AIDS transmission.”
He also said that police crackdowns on drug users at hospitals lessens the outreach of prevention activities as well as interrupting symptomatic drug treatment and other treatment interventions such as anti-TB, antiretroviral and methadone treatment.
Scum feels that it was prison, rather than heroin, that destroyed his life.
“I blame prison and harsh drug laws more than heroin itself for the death of my friend – he died of AIDS in jail. If he’d undergone treatment at a hospital he might have lived,” he said.
Nevertheless Scum is aware of the damage his drug habit is causing him physically.
“I have liver problems and I am on medication,” he said.
Ko Kyaw Thu believes that the only escape from the nightmare of heroin drug addiction is through proper treatment, rather than criminalisation attempting to serve as a deterrent.
“People need help, not discrimination,” he said.
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/special-features/161-youth-2013/4228-escaping-the-opium-nightmare-drug-rehabilitation.html
