Helping addicts recover
What happens to those who surrendered in Project Tokhang and want a second chance to live? In a four-part special report, SunStar Cebu dissected the inadequacies of current rehabilitation programs for drug users and pushers who surrendered to the Philippine National Police (PNP) program aimed at winning the country’s war against illegal drugs.
The Duterte administration’s grand solution surfaced unanticipated challenges, such as the inadequacy of current recovery programs.
As Cherry Ann T. Lim reported in the first part of the special report, “After the Tokhang,” which was published on March 3, only 1,800 drug dependents can undergo treatment at a time at the 12 rehabilitation centers serving the province of Cebu.
According to “Surrenderers many, but rehab centers few,” 67,829 responded in Cebu to Project Tokhang from July 1, 2016 to Feb. 2, 2017.
The Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (Cpadao) assessed that about 9,800 surrenderers, representing 20 percent, have a “high level” of addiction, requiring at least seven months of admission in a rehabilitation center.
Availing of rehabilitation is urgent for the surrenderers who do not just want to avoid arrest and criminal charges but also to escape being a victim of extrajudicial killing (EJK).
In its recent annual report on the global state of human rights, the US Department of State assessed that EJK “increased sharply over the past year” since the War on Drugs began in the Philippines.
According to the PNP, 2,155 suspects were killed in police operations, and 4,049, by vigilantes.
Surrendering to Project Tokhang is no guarantee one will not end up as an EJK statistic. While the government officially denies supporting vigilante killing, its outreach to surrenderers wanting to recover from their addiction also faces severe constraints.
According to the first part of the SunStar Cebu special report, drug rehabilitation is more expensive in private facilities, which charge P25,000 to P35,000 a month compared to the monthly expense of about P5,000 in a government facility.
Only two of the 12 rehabilitation centers in the province of Cebu are run by the government, with a long list of people trying to get in the latter.
In the Department of Health Treatment and Rehabilitation Center-Argao, Cebu, which accepts male patients, there’s a need for more doctors and more space to house the patients.
Early intervention can prevent residential or inpatient rehabilitation. However, authorities report little referral from high-risk surrenderers or requests for inpatient rehabilitation. Community-based rehabilitation is more sought after because admissions means no work and no earnings.
The SunStar Cebu special report cited data from the Police Regional Office 7 that males number 66,029 or 97 percent of the 67,829 surrenderers in the province of Cebu. In a related article also published on March 3, Lim reported that most of those who responded to Project Tokhang came from low-income families.
While there is government financial assistance— in another March 3 article, Lim reported that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. offers a Medical Detoxification Package of P10,000—families and society have still to grasp the full implications of the long process required to rehabilitate a person addicted to drugs.
The complete package of rehabilitation involves “spiritual, psycho-social, emotional and occupational restoration.” Returning to one’s community may mean renewing the drug habit. Those who relapse should return and stay longer in the rehabilitation center.
It is not unknown for drug dependents to undergo rehabilitation “18 or 19 times,” reported SunStar Cebu. Given that rehabilitation often is a lifetime process, other institutions and sectors must share the stake of helping addicts kick the habit. In future editorials, SunStar Cebu will tackle the other findings of its four-part special report, “After the Tokhang.”