Ex-drug addicts hold first PH ‘recovery’ summit

NAGA CITY – While President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to intensify the government’s drive against illegal drugs, even promising a bloody campaign, former drug dependents have shown that there is life after a bout with drug abuse.

On Sunday, some 200 former drug addicts gathered in this city in Camarines Sur province to raise awareness on their plight and struggle to recovery.

The summit, said to be the first to be held in the country, coincided with the celebration of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (Idadait). The event was sponsored by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Department of Health in partnership with the Naga City government and the Center for Christian Recovery.

To former drug addicts, who had been rehabilitated and continue to struggle to keep themselves sober, sharing their life’s journey without drugs is a way to avoid relapse, one of the summit participants said.

He has now found his calling in assisting the recovery of former addicts like himself.

Road to recovery

Tok Corpus, 46, executive director of the Center for Christian Recovery, said those who had gone into rehabilitation are “on the process of partial recovery.”

Corpus had been drug-free for 17 years now. He started using drugs when he was 19 years old. He entered rehabilitation twice before he kicked the drug habit that sent him to prison in his younger days.

Gilda Gale Abonal-Gomez, a clinical psychologist, told summit participants that the first stage to recovery, which she called “pre-contemplation,” is when the drug addict refuses to acknowledge that there is a problem in his or her behavior.

She said once the addict starts to acknowledge that there is something wrong, the road to recovery starts to open.

This could advance to the third stage, called “preparation,” where the addict is getting ready to change.

Gomez said the road to recovery progresses to the fourth stage, called “action,” where the addict seeks and submits to intervention to correct the behavior.

Finally, once rehabilitation had been completed, the “maintenance” stage starts. At this stage, the former addict’s environment, especially the family, plays an important role to sustain his or her recovery.

Character defect

Gomez said there are times that addiction to illegal drugs could transform into other forms of addiction, like gambling or playing computer games.

She said not all drug addicts require rehabilitation outside of their homes. In some cases, a patient may receive treatment at home with help from the entire family while being supported by psychologists and medical professionals.

Corpus said the Center for Christian Recovery’s intervention starts with counseling that helps them assess character defects before treatment.

“One must identify the character defects because these are the foundation of drug addiction. The character defects drive you to a non-manageable stage,” he said.

He said these defects, once identified, become the markers to determine whether the recovering addict may experience relapse.

“Watch out for these markers because the farther you move away from them, the lesser the possibility of doing drugs again,” Corpus said.

An example of a character defect, he said, is gambling which can lead the recovering addict to take drugs again in order to stay awake.

Demand reduction

“There is no need to reintroduce drug dependency as a social menace. What many need to know again is that drug dependency can be prevented and treated,” said DDB Chair Felipe Rojas Jr.

Rojas said the DDB seeks to lessen, if not eliminate, the demand for illegal drugs. Less demand for drugs would also mean less need for supply and fewer gains for criminals who earn from drug trafficking, he said.

Rojas said the illegal drug trade in the country is a P55-billion enterprise controlled by syndicates.

A presentation by Director Edgar Jubay of the PDEA Bicol regional office said the archipelagic character of the Philippines poses a challenge in checking the entry of illegal drugs in the country.

Jubay said amphetamine type stimulants, like shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride), and marijuana as the major types of drugs peddled and used around the country.

He said the major sources of shabu are Metro Manila, Cavite, Cebu, Cotabato and Davao.

Marijuana comes from Tabuk City, Mt. Province, Ifugao, Oriental Mindoro, Albay and Palawan in Luzon; Catmon, Toledo and Dalaguete in the Visayas; and Jolo, Ampatuan, T’boli, Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental in Mindanao.

He said processed shabu used to be smuggled into the country. But drug syndicates, he said, started manufacturing shabu in the country in 1997.

Jubay said since that the discovery of a clandestine laboratory in Angeles City in 1997, law enforcers have dismantled 98 more laboratories in the past 16 years.

To avoid detection, the big laboratories had shifted from large scale operations to what he described as “kitchen type” production.

He said two laboratories were dismantled in Angeles City in Pampanga and Sta. Cruz in Manila this year.

Jubay said the illegal drug trade in Philippines is dominated by the Chinese from mainland China or Hong Kong.

“They (the Chinese) are responsible for trafficking and manufacturing large volumes of illegal drugs in the country,” he said. ,