Homepage > Thai Youth Issues > Abuse spreads its wings

Date: 8th February 1998, The Nation

IT WAS a typical summer morning in July 1993. A healthy but nervous-looking teenager was sitting on a blue bench at the far end of the second floor of the Police Hospital.

Holding the young student's hands was her well-dressed mother, with diamond studs in both ears. After waiting for 45 minutes, the two were called into a room.

''What can I do for you?'' Dr Sanchai Vasunthara asked in greeting.

''My daughter has taken some drugs. Can you help?'' replied the mother.

Sanchai, 47, was a bit flabbergasted but, nonetheless, he was very interested in the teenager, a high school student from a nearby girls' school. She was the first young patient from a well-to-do family to seek his assistance as a resident doctor of the Department of Psychiatry and Drug Dependence Centre.

''Finally, the drug problem has hit both ordinary and elite schools,'' the doctor thought.

Not long after, three more young students from a nearby boys' school came to ask for help. They too had taken some drugs.

That was five years ago -- ''long before the hullaballoo about ya-baa or ya-e,'' Sanchai said, referring to the media frenzy on teenagers' increased drug use and abuse over the last two years, especially with ecstasy and amphetamines.

When the doctor first encountered young patients from nearby secondary schools, his initial surprise soon turned into concern as he witnessed a new trend of drug use among ordinary high school students. In the past, drug use among youngsters had been confined to vocational schools and usually involved rough and tough boys.

He later recalled that he raised the issue with his superior at the Police Department, but the response was not that enthusiastic. ''It was new and people at the top thought they were isolated incidents,'' he said.

Today, in the same office, Sanchai repeats the same diagnosis and treatment for young patients and offers the same advice to their worried parents. He says there are more young drug users today and most of them are ''episodic'' or occasional users.

The attempt to play up the increasing number of young drug users has been a bit exaggerated, he says, adding that only 10 per cent of the reported two million drug users are considered abusers or addicts.

''Most of them are teenagers who have tried it for the first time and a few other times,'' he says. ''Most are new drug users. They take drugs such as marijuana, heroine or ya-baa occasionally.''

While the authorities have zeroed in on suppression of drug sellers, especially during the Chavalit Yongchaiyudh government, Sanchai is more concerned with the follow-up treatment.

''It was quite alarming to find out that half the users who were successfully treated returned in a matter of weeks or months,'' admits Sanchai, who monitored his own patients a few years ago.

Then, he found that an additional 25 per cent of his patients return for further treatment. A year later, only eight or ten per cent of the former patients will get on with their lives without going back to drugs.

Although the first Chuan Leekpai administration enacted a law in 1993 to establish rehabilitation centres in the four regions of Thailand to cope with growing drug abuse, nothing has been done so far.

At the moment, there is no place where people with a history of drug use can seek advice and find treatment.

Last year, the Interior Ministry set up two centres for drug users in the Police Hospital and Taksin Hospital. Called Soon-sub-nam-ta, or centres for wiping tears away, the facilities were supposed to provide shelter and cure drug addicts of all ages without any charge. The endeavour was reported extensively in the press.

Last week's visit to the centre at the Police Hospital unearthed an unmade bed and one oxygen tube lining. Critics said that last year the centre served as a showcase for the powers-that-be to publicise their work.

BY KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN

The Nation