Cambodians and Thais join Hands for Drug Rehabs

Tin Sokhavuth

A private rehab center in Phnom Penh. KT/ Fabien Mouret

An ongoing workshop organized by the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) and Mr. Viroth Virachhay, president of the Thanyarak Institute in Thailand, is taking place in Sihanoukville from August 9 to August 11, to exchange experiences concerning combatting drug and drug rehabilitation in the region.

Hort Seiha, an officer from the gendarmerie in Sihanoukville, who has participated in the workshop, told Khmer Times that the main goal of the workshop was to have an ASEAN region free of drug.

According to Mr. Seiha, during the workshop, General Meas Vyrith, president of the NACD, said thank to Thai Ministry of Public Health for helping to train Cambodian officials in the field of drug rehabilitation.

Gen. Vyrith wanted also to say thank to the Thai council for combatting drug that has cooperated with Cambodian counterpart to fight against drug in the region.

Drug Addiction treatment in Cambodia has been long criticized as punitive and inefficient. In 2010, Human Rights Watch issued a report comparing Cambodian drug rehabilitation centers to prisons, in which torture and even rape is common.

Gen. Vyrith previously told Khmer Times that the prevalence of drugs, especially methamphetamine, was on the rise. As a response, Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a sub-decree last year to create a committee made up of representatives from different ministries and provinces in order to establish a strategy for drug rehabilitation issue.

As for Ministry of Health, the rehabilitation center alone is not enough. The ministry came up with a new idea to create “community based treatment” that is referring to a model incorporating counseling, job training and reintegration.

The community based treatment enlists organizations and community members in the area of the rehabilitation.

According to Mr. Chhum Vannarith, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Health, the community based treatment is more efficient for healing drug addicted mind.

“The hospital and government-run centers aren’t as good for healing the mind,” Mr. Vannarith said.

Since a United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime pilot began in Banteay Meanchey in 2010, small scale treatment programs have been expanded southward, first in Battambang in 2012 and in the capital last year.

Last year, there were 25 centers for community based treatment in Banteay Meanchey province, and another 23 centers in Phnom Penh. The Ministry of Health expected to have such programs up and running in every province this year.

Mr. Vannarith added that the big challenge to expand this program was funding. He declined to say what the committee’s budget was but said that it was not enough. Drug treatment programs have long relied on outside funding.

While the community based treatment programs have expanded, they still are a small portion among rehabilitation options. They were created to the detriment of the eight government-run rehabilitation centers – the eight centers could be closed down once the community based treatment programs have been sufficiently expanded.