Gov admits addiction, offers rehab to users
PROSPERIDAD, AGUSAN DEL SUR—Adolph Edward Plaza, now governor of the province, knows how it is to be a drug addict. He was before.
Plaza’s victorious battle with addiction has perhaps shaped how he views the current war on drugs and victims of the seemingly widespread underworld trade in addictive substances.
Admitting that he had to be treated in rehabilitation centers twice, Plaza is sure about his message to drug dependents—you can overcome the addiction.
“I never thought I would become governor because it seemed like I was a hopeless case,” Plaza said in a speech at a gathering of 500 former “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) users here recently.
“But my parents gave me the second chance to mend my ways and reform for good,” he said.
“If there are temptations, we can fight it as long as we strongly work for it,” he said.
Speaking at the first Outreach and Linkages Congress for Persons with Substance Use Disorder, Plaza said addicts are treated like outcasts because of misconception about drug dependence.
Like cancer
“Addiction is like cancer,” said Plaza. “It would recur if one could not resist the temptation,” he said.
And like cancer sufferers, drug dependents need help.
Plaza said this is the reason he is committed to pursuing an all-out effort to help addicts recover and prevent the spread of drug addiction.
The event during which Plaza admitted his past as an addict was hosted by the provincial government as part of its Substance Use Recovery and Enlightenment (SURE) and featured speakers from the religious sector and experts on drug abuse treatment.
Mark Larry Chua, an international drug addiction therapist who heads the SURE program, said 17 of 18 patients with moderate cases of drug addiction had survived the 90-day primary care and after care sessions of the program.
Longer rehab
He said 16 others, who are considered to have severe cases of addiction, are still undergoing rehabilitation that will last up to six months.
Those who passed the program are now on a 45-day advance training to become counselors for other drug dependents who would be admitted into the SURE program.
The reformed addicts are also offered short-term technical courses by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for free. —CHRIS PANGANIBAN
