Recovering drug addicts find work with Sahl

▶ It’s another chance at a normal life for those whose lives were destroyed by addictive substances

After battling addiction for decades, Salem Al Muhairi has finally recovered and picked up the pieces of his life – starting with a job that will bring him a stable income.

He began taking drugs in 1985, when out of “teenage curiosity” he started smoking hashish, only to eventually become addicted to a cocktail of drugs that included heroin.

“I call it the world of loss and darkness,” said the 51-year-old Emirati. “I was employed at 17, and things went well, until I got into drugs.”

During the first decade of his drug use, neither he nor his family were aware that the troubles he was having were due to addiction. He did not even recognise himself as an addict.

“At first they would check me into hospitals, one after the other, but nothing was effective,” Mr Al Muhairi said.

“Then they thought I was under black magic, so they got experts to try to undo it, and gave me special water to drink.”

It was not until he was arrested for taking drugs in the late 90s that he came to terms with his addiction.

After a spate of stints in prison and unsuccessful treatments, Mr Al Muhairi decided to start an electronics and maintenance business, and tried to use alcohol to wean himself off drugs. “Then I discovered that alcohol brings you back to drugs eventually,” he said.

He ran into further trouble and was imprisoned again. “After my release, I decided I have to leave this life behind me and get a fresh start,” he said.

He checked himself into the National Rehabilitation Centre on June 8, and is now completely clean.

Mr Al Muhairi is one of six recovered addicts who will benefit from an agreement signed yesterday between the NRC and Sahl, an Easy Business Services Centre that provides jobs for Emiratis. Under the agreement, Sahl will recruit recovered addicts and pay them monthly salaries. They will be working in data entry, at a centre that was set up at the NRC itself, where they can train and work.

“This is the first time such a project takes place between us and the private sector; this place is dedicated to you at the NRC, and at the same time will provide you with a stable income,” Dr Hamad Al Ghaferi, director general of the NRC, told Mr Al Muhairi and his peers after signing the agreement.

“As long as you work and produce, this small room will grow bigger in the future,” he said.

Khalid Ali, 38, who will also be joining Sahl, said: “This is a message to all of us and to other addicts and society, that an addict is a patient and he can recover and produce if he finds support.”

After 17 years of addiction, Mr Ali decided to quit drugs after a friend of his died of an overdose. “I got him into it, so I felt responsible for his death,” he said. “I grew tired of addiction, and many people around me died. I did not want to die, and my mother to get criticism from society for my failure.”

He checked himself into the NRC in 2014, and since then has not only recovered from his addiction, but also finished a bachelor’s degree in human resources at the University of Worcester and got married. He is due to finish his MBA in April, and with the new stable job, he will be able to pay the Dh24,000 for his graduation project.

Dr Ali Al Marzooqi, head of public health and research at the NRC, said treating addiction has always been the easy part – finding a suitable work environment for the patient was the real challenge.

“So we decided to co-operate with Sahl to provide jobs within conditions, so it is based here and under our supervision and a safe working environment for them,” Mr Al Marzooqi said.

For the pilot period, six patients will be training and working with Sahl, and once the project proves successful, it will be expanded to include more people.

Initially, six recovered addicts will work in data entry at a centre set up at the National Rehabilitation Centre