Pubdate: Sun, 11 Sep 2005 Source: Vietnam News (Vietnam) Copyright: 2005 Viet Nam News, Vietnam News Agency Contact: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3935 Author: Ngan Giang Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) CENTRE OFFERS DRUG ADDICTS A CHANCE TO START FROM SCRATCH "May I have a newspaper?" says a young man as he runs over and reaches through the iron fence, hoping to be lucky enough to get his hands on one of the newspapers that the young reporter is carrying. In minutes, the stack of newspapers is gone, much to the regret of the many men who arrived late. This is a daily fixture of life at the Hoa Binh Rehabilitation Centre, an inpatient drug treatment programme, where people from different cities and provinces all over North Viet Nam have voluntarily placed themselves in order to treat their addiction to drugs. Twenty-six-year-old Nguyen Ha Minh Phuong, from Ha Noi City, said this is the fourth time he has attempted to give up drugs at the centre. "I always promise myself that I will give up drugs but it's not easy. This time I hid the fact that I was on heroin because I didn't want my girlfriend to know," said Phuong. "I dream that one day I will have a family of my own and a stable job as a taxi driver." "While I'm at the centre, I am determined to get off drugs, but I always start using them when I return home. I don't understand it. My family members and my girlfriend have always supported me and I don't want to upset them anymore," said Phuong. Phuong is one of hundreds of young people who have voluntarily checked themselves into the centre to treat their drug addiction. These patients come from all walks of life: they are taxi drivers, electricians, workers, students and prostitutes. According to the centre's director, Bui Van Vang, these people are addicts but many of them are eager to find a way out. "They want normal lives but it is not easy for them to escape the attraction of drugs," said Vang. That's where the centre comes in. The expert staff are equipped to treat and educate all types of addicts, giving them the support they need to stop using drugs for good. Vang said the Hoa Binh Rehabilitation Centre was established in 1994 when many households in the province were falling apart due to narcotic use. In 1994, it was estimated that there were 3,000 drug users in the province, a figure much higher than other provinces, largely due to the ethnic minority community of H'Mong that was earning its living by planting opium. Vang said the centre had many difficulties at first due to the lack of medical facilities and trained staff. Today, the centre is flourishing thanks to the support of the Government and local authorities. In 10 years of operation, the centre has helped over 5,000 people give up drugs, about 3,000 of whom were locals and the rest came from other provinces including Thai Binh, Ha Nam, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh and Ha Tay. While most of the patients have voluntarily elected to be at the centre, there are also patients that have been ordered to undergo treatment for their addiction. Currently, there are 300 people that are being treated at the centre. Outside of basic treatment, the centre tries to organise recreational activities that will help addicts start to build a life free from drugs. There are dancing and singing performances and meetings with local people that give patients the chance to talk about the dangers of drug addiction. "Recreational activites make up 30 per cent of the centre's educational programmes because we find that they are an integral part to help people stop using drugs," said Vang. In addition to recreational activites, the centre also offers vocational training classes that allow patients to earn extra money and learn a skill that will be useful to them once they leave, such as broommaking and other types of handicrafts. These classes are available to patients after completing two months of treatment at the centre. In the last 10 years, about 1,000 people have attended 52 different vocational training classes, Vang said. Golden hearts The workers at the Hoa Binh Rehabilitation Centre choose to work here, despite the stigma of working around drug addicts. Twenty-five-year-old Le Tien said he decided to work at the centre because Hoa Binh is his homeland and he wants to make it more prosperous. "I work here because drugs are causing many social evils," said Tien. A 2002 graduate of the Security Forces College, Tien works and lives in the centre. "The centre is now my second home," he said. Nguyen Tien Dung, 27, has worked here as a superintendent since 2001. "Many of the superintendents, nurses and doctors are unmarried because we have no time to go out," said Dung. Time is not the only problem, Dung said. The main problem is that many local girls don't want to marry people who are working and living with drug addicts everyday. He said that most people associate drug addicts with HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases, and they think the centre's staff are at risk of contracting these diseases. "Working at the centre is definitely a risk, but if we don't work here then who will help the addicts make a new life for themselves?" said Dung. The workers at the centre not only treat the addicts but they also become friends with them. "We actually see each other as brothers. We usually eat, play and watch television together," said Dung. "Once you become friendly with the patients you are able to understand why they were attracted to drugs in the first place, and that allows us to help them and integrate them into the community here," he explained. The centre's director Bui Van Vang said the one thing that upsets the staff is the number of patients that go back to using drugs after they are treated here. The numbers are sobering: out of the 500 people that enter the centre each year, 200 start using drugs again when they leave. "The number of re-addicted people is still high because we have no specific treatment or medicine for them," said Vang. Additionally, because drugs are readily available, it's extremely difficult for addicts to stay away from them once they leave the controlled environment of the centre. "There are no drugs or social evils in the centre, but they are very easy to find in the outside world. This is a problem that absolutely needs to be solved," said Vang. -- VNS - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom