WAR ON DRUGS

REHABILITATION SINKING UNDER PATIENT OVERLOAD, STUDY SAYS

Some Suspects Just Hooked On Alcohol

The government's war on drugs is hampering rehabilitation efforts with health
officials burdened by too many patients, a study says.

Presented at an international conference on mental health and substance
dependence yesterday, the study said rehabilitation centres, particularly in
the provinces, could not cope with so many patients.

Some were sent there only because their names appeared on suspect lists. Often
they turned out to be alcoholics.

The study was conducted between March 24 and April 4 among 3,066 people, most
of them males between 15 and 44 years of age, seeking rehabilitation in 17
state-run centres.

The government's war on drugs ran between Feb 1 and April 30.

The study was conducted by Chulalongkorn, Khon Kaen, Prince of Songkhla, and
Chiang Mai universities and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board.

It said officials who helped with rehabilitation often had little experience in
screening patients.

Interviews with drug addicts suggested the war on drugs had not deterred people
buying drugs. The pattern of methamphetamine purchases in the southern
provinces had not changed.

However, the price of methamphetamines had increased by more than 60% in the
central and southern provinces, while in the northeastern provinces it had
increased by 17%. No change was reported in the northern provinces.

The study said methamphetamines, marijuana and heroin could still be purchased
because the suppression drive did not touch major drug smugglers and dealers.

The news was not all bad. Suan Prung psychiatric hospital in Chiang Mai said
one positive outcome of the war on drugs was that fewer addicts were seeking
treatment for mental health problems.