Makati sees 80% relapse rate among drug users in rehab

Cherry Canda Melodias, Makati director of the DILG at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Photo from her Facebook account)

MANILA, Philippines — Drug users undergoing rehabilitation in Makati have an 80 percent of relapse rate, according to Cherry Canda Melodias, the Makati director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Melodias said this in a speech she gave during the launching in Makati of the drug-free workplace program of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

“We know that rehabilitation is really difficult because once the person is into drugs it is so difficult to take him out of it,” Melodias said, speaking partly in Filipino. “In fact, based on our observations, there is an 80 percent relapse rate. Patients are undertaking rehabilitation and all, but they still keep on using drugs.”

Melodias explained that the Anti-Drug Abuse Council of Makati implements three forms of rehabilitation — “community-based, out-patient, and residential rehabilitation.”

Melodias described drug rehabilitation as a “difficult cycle,” especially among children.

According to her, some patients in Makati’s rehabilitation program are aged 13 to 15 years old.

She said the program included an “arts-based approach to educate kids on the dangers of drugs so that they will not consider doing drugs.”

/atm