NEED FOR ACTION ON THE DRUG ADDICTION PROBLEM IN BOHOL

For The Bohol Tribune

In This Our Journey

NESTOR MANIEBO PESTELOS

With two colleagues from our NGO, Dr. Pomie Buot, vice president, and Mollie Pasco, accountant, we just completed the study visits to six drug rehabilitation centers in the provinces of Cebu, Davao and Misamis Occidental. We noted that although these facilities have a significant number of clients from Bohol, their fees for “board and lodging,” medication expenses and consultations, as well as the costs incurred by family members during regular visits and the mandatory family orientation and training, will be beyond the reach of many families struggling with drug addiction among their members here in our province.

These field visits validate the need to establish at least one drug rehabilitation cum mental health facility in our province to ease the burden of hundreds of families who are considered poor with one or more of their members in various stages of drug and/or alcohol addiction.  Depending on the stage of brain damage due to repeated drug abuse, these affected family members may now be showing symptoms of drug-induced psychosis for which we have no treatment facility in this province of 1.2 million people. 

These drug abuse victims are now in their hundreds and if they go untreated, these will result in more crimes, such as rape, murder, robberies. There will be more unproductive members of society as well as dysfunctional families which will erase whatever gains we have made in the past in development, spiritual uplift and the pursuit of values fostered by our ancestors in the proud history of the Boholanos.

We need to do something concrete while police authorities intensify their operations against those who perpetuate the lucrative illegal drug trade in our province. Let us do something to open access to drug abuse treatment services to as many people as possible as the police intensifies efforts to engage pushers and their handlers in chase-and-shoot pursuits beyond cinematic proportions, which threaten to destroy in the process our reputation as a province with high social capital and abundant heroic traditions in defense of family and race.

Our recent study visits to nearby drug rehab centers show however that If a family with drug abuse problems among its members will decide to seek treatment from  the centers visited, the prospect of their son or daughter getting  treated may not be that bright.

Here are the charges and the corresponding period of stay in each of the centers:

New Day Recovery Center, Davao City (PHP 48,000 per month; in patient, 8 months, and out-patient, 2 months);

Metro Psyche or Roads and Bridges for Recovery, Mandaue City (PHP 35,000 per month; additional Php 60,000 for medicines and follow-up;  12 months treatment period);

 It Works! Chemical Dependency Treatment Center, Ozamiz City (PHP 18,000 per month; treatment period: 3 to 6 months based on progress);

Misamis Occidental Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (MODTRC), Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental (PHP 4,000 per month for out-patient; PHP 8,000 per month for in-patient; treatment period: 6 months; in case of relapse, client repeats the same process);

Lifeline Services, Tangub City, Misamis Occidental (PHP 15,000 per month; treatment period: 6 months);

Family and Recovery Management (FARM), Bayong, Cadulawan, Minglanilla, Cebu  (Fee flexible depending on the client’s ability to pay; owner provides for maintenance; treatment period: 6 months; Note: less than two years of operations and may not be ready to accept more clients).

If we factor in the costs of transport, food, accommodation that family members will incur to visit their sons or daughters in these rehabilitation centers, the total costs may reach Php 500,000 to Php 800,000 depending on the frequency of visits and the distance from Bohol.  

With the proliferation of illicit drugs, principally shabu, in the province which has come to the attention of many people due to the spate of drug-related killings in recent months, it is safe to assume that hundreds of families are affected by the drug abuse problem in our midst. In the absence of a database on the actual number of people or percentage of specific population groups with drug addiction problem, we can only surmise that the problem is widespread on account of the drug buy-bust cases and arrests being done by the police and documented by the news clippings we have compiled during the past five months.

The news clippings show how the distribution and use of illegal drugs has penetrated all layers of society and distorted in the process our sense of values as a people.

Consider these:

-Raids on suspected sources of drugs resulted not only in the confiscation of shabu and other drugs, but also “yielded loose guns, including high powered , and even live grenades.”

-Seventy-one barangays have been considered with serious drug problem which means they have “at least one drug laboratory, den or resort or a shabu tyangge,” according to the police.

-Pension houses are suspected as distribution points for illegal drugs.

-Stolen motorbikes were found in a hideout of suspected drug pushers.

-A former vice mayor and a former vice governor were among those arrested in police operations against illegal drug trade and use.

-Former barangay captain nabbed for drugs.

-Drug suspect arrested for the murder of a municipal councilor.

-Illegal drugs are reportedly sold in school campuses, particularly during night-time.

-A 63-year old woman was arrested for being drug courier.

-Drug suspect fired at arresting policemen.

-Illegal drugs cited as reason for series of carnapping in the city.

-Minor arrested for illegal drugs and possession of M16 bullets.

-More women sell shabu.

-Drug addict hangs self in a tree.

-A retired cop nabbed in drug raid.

-Rape-slay filed against estranged boyfriend, who is a drug abuser.

-Drug raids continue during Holy Week.

-Drug-linked shooting mars barangay fiesta.

-Illegal trade drugs sold on-line.

-Woman nabbed while buying illegal drugs.

-Tricycle passenger arrested for wanting to pay driver with shabu.

-Police blamed illegal drugs for alarming rise of rape cases in the province.

-203 drug cases filed in court in recent months.

-Ex-convict arrested for having shabu .

-Businessmen dare police to arrest drug lords, not only small fries.

-Alleged lady drug pusher arrested and reported to be contacting top government officials to get protection.

These news items validate the observation that illegal drug distribution and use is rampant in the province. If the unverified report is true  that 50% of crimes reported in the province are drug-related, then we need no elaborate survey to show that illegal drug use should be  a priority social concern in this our beloved and beleaguered  province.

In his State of the Province Address (SOPA), Gov. Edgar Chatto said that 1,640.602 grams worth PHP 19,359,103.60 were confiscated in 2014. This was much, much bigger than the PHP 164.45 grams worth PHP 1,940,510 seized in 2013.

This indicates not only police efficiency in the conduct of drug raids but also the big volume of illegal drug trade in the province. In response to the situation, Gov. Chatto said in his SOPA:

“Lives have been offered at the altar of peace and order in our no-nonsense campaign against drug abuse. We must win this war together. Let us be vanguards of our city, municipalities, barangays and even puroks. Let us be guardians in our homes. We must win this war together.”

Aside from the war against drug lords and pushers being waged by the Government and the police, there is the other area of concern which all sectors of Boholano society should unite for  – what to do with hundreds of drug abuse victims whose families have nobody to turn to in the province to listen to their plea for systematic counselling, referral and treatment services within their means or their sponsors to provide.

As we have repeatedly in this column, there is an urgent need to establish a drug rehabilitation center cum mental health facility in the province. If this cannot be fast-tracked on account of budgetary constraint, we suggest that at least a network of Outreach and Drop-In Centers (ODICs) be established so that there is a contact point between a service facility and the families affected by drug abuse and pave the way for their drug-related problems to be systematically addressed.

This will significantly reduce drug demand and initiate a more systematic approach to open access to pre-treatment and treatment services for hundreds of people, mostly the young, who have become drug abusers in recent years on account of factors, some of which are not within their capacity to manage or control.

The following may be undertaken in an ODIC, as cited in a report by the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Program (CPDAP): outreach visits; early intervention strategies such as pre-treatment counseling, home-based detoxification; short-term outpatient or home-based treatment; referrals to hospitals or drug treatment centers; organization and conduct of education and training programs by professionals on drug awareness, training of outreach support staff and volunteers, and skills training; and encouraging family members to come to the centers for counseling.

We have estimated that the total cost for such a drop-in center will be around PHP 810,000 to take care of the infrastructure required; staffing; office equipment, utilities and other administrative costs for one year of operations. This is part of a much-reduced proposal costing Php 15 million for building the 30-bed facility for a drug rehab center and a drop-in center in one of the parishes of the Diocese of Tagbilaran. Unfortunately, after submitting a total of six proposals to the Diocese, we were informed that the project could not be included in the reportedly Vatican-funded Bohol Rehabilitation and Rebuilding Program because it is not within their priorities or that they did not have the staff to implement it.

The positive note is that the representatives of the Diocese in our meeting last week had the compromise that any parish wanting to help build the drug rehabilitation center and/or drop-in center may do so as a local initiative. We took it to mean that there would be no approval needed from the hierarchy – and, well, no funding support, too! Tiny as this door of opportunity is we must seize it like cats feasting on the morsels thrown at them by house guests. Let the parishes be inspired by the example of Baclayon which raised PHP 10 million in less than two years to build a comfortable dwelling to house three priests. If this can be done for three servants of the Lord, perhaps we can be inspired to raise funds and build the much-needed drug rehabilitation and drop-in center which will benefit the multitude for decades to come. Will this not be in conformity with the pronouncements and policies of the reformist and activist Pope Francis?

It just occurred to me that the same strategy can be adopted by the LGUs since they have been clustered into supposedly more cost-effective arrangements into BIADs (Bohol Integrated Area Development). Since their constituents are affected one way or the other by the drug addiction problem, they can contribute to build, support and maintain a facility each using initially local budgetary resources? This can be good politics, too, since many of their voters are affected by the worsening drug abuse problem in the province.

Our colleagues from the six drug rehab centers we visited, some of them Boholanos, are willing to provide advice on how we can go about having these important facilities here in Bohol. The story of how Rene Francisco, a former drug addict, was able to build the IT WORKS! Chemical Dependency Treatment Center out of sheer will to help “save lives” starting with simple facilities in a two-story wooden house and assisted by a priest and a nun should inspire us to action to address a social problem which, if left unchecked, will affect future generations of Boholanos.

We repeat here that our NGO, Bohol Local Development Foundation (BLDF) is making available the use of two pieces of land (1.2 has. And 6,000 sq. m.) for any of these facilities, including their use for a livelihood center. NDRC Davao has visited the two sites and we are now in the process of taking the initial discussions to the actual planning level.

We will open up participation of other individuals and groups we have been dealing with and see how we can take initial steps to build at least one Outreach and Drop-In Center within the year while working to raise funds for a drug rehab facility  in the province through our program thrust on livelihood for out-of-school youth.

Just email us: npestelos@gmail.com or info@bohollocaldev.org . Or visit us at www.bohollocaldev.org for more information on how we can work together to help address this drug menace in our midst. #Boholdrugrehabcenter.

NMP/21May2015/9.33 a.m.