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Date: April 2001, Nation Junior Magazine

It's a Junkie's Life by Naris Wuthisakont

"Lek" dreamed of being a soldier like his father. His dream has been crushed because of his addiction to drugs.

"When my dad arrived home, I used to run to him and put on his shoes. I wanted to be just like him. But today I'm just a junkie," Lek, the 15-year-old drug addict told NJ Magazine.

Lek smiles and laughs as he talks, but often his eyes show opposite emotions.

This summer he should be going to the beach like other students his age, but he won't be.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday he goes to Baan Pichit Jai, the Drug Rehabilitation Centre, for treatment for drug addiction.

Kanda Choaymeung, a psychologist at Baan Pichit Jai explained that the area around Lek's house is full of drugs - both sellers and users. Children in that area are at risk of becoming users.

"You can see drug addicts at the entrance of my soi," Lek confirmed. "If you turn left, you can see the horse heads. If you turn right, the weed is waiting for you. But I don't use weed. Horse is enough for me."

Lek started taking amphetamines six months ago when he felt that he didn't get enough love from his family.

Lek's parents are divorced. Then his father had an accident and became disabled. Lek and his father had to move in with his aunt near Samrong - an area with many drugs.

Lek's father was a drunk and was always yelling at him. Lek felt lonely, especially when school term ended. So he found new friends - friends who were drug addicts.

"Did your friends get you to try it?" NJ asked.

"Don't blame them! I did it myself," he answered.

Lek started smoking cigarettes when he was in M.2. One year later he started to take amphetamines.

"My friends were very happy when they used drugs so I tried them. I'm just a teenager. I want to take some risks," he said.

After taking one pill, Lek was on top of the world. He felt comfortable and relieved from all his sorrows and pains.

Nobody told him how much he could take the first time. He took too much. That night Lek couldn't sleep. He felt restless. It was like he had lots of energy pumping inside him. That night he ended up cleaning his room again and again like a crazy person.

Kanda explained that after taking amphetamines, users are full of energy for four hours, before calming down. After experiencing such an extreme energy boost, they feel that life without amphetamines is boring.

"Imagine! It's like in normal life we are charged by 10 volts of electricity, but after taking amphetamines it increases to 500 volts. But when it suddenly decreases to 10 volts again the addicts cannot adapt to that dramatic change. Their brains cannot function. They need the 500 volts again," she explained.

The effect of the drugs on each addict is different. Some enjoy doing housework; some annoy others while others try hard to control themselves.

"Most drug users, especially beginners, try to control themselves, but they can't," Lek said.

Lek's strange behaviour made his aunt suspicious. After two months she realised what was happening when she saw her nephew taking drugs at his friend's house. She tried to talk to him but it was no use, so she gave up.

"When I need horse heads but have no money, I deal. I do it just to get some pills. Sometime the drugs I sell are yaa blom (bogus drug)."

Apart from the amphetamines that Lek gets from his dealer, he and his friend make their own. They use a mixture of amphetamines, red ink from a ball point pen, face powder and a chemical that even Lek and his friends don't know what it is. What they know is that it gets them high.

Even though it's a bogus pill, Lek said it's so like the real thing that drug addicts just think it's poor quality. Sometimes when Lek doesn't have enough pills he uses it, too.

The psychologist explained that the main ingredient of amphetamines is ephedrine. The more ephedrine in the drug, the more expensive it is. Amphetamines also contain arsenic, formalin and mercury. They are all dangerous to humans.

When dealing, Lek goes to many places but he doesn't deal at school.

"It's risky. And I don't want to hurt my friends," he said.

Normally amphetamines sell for about Bt60 a pill, but in schools a juggler can get more than Bt100. Even though it's expensive, the number of drug addicts in schools is increasing.

"There used to be 50 students in my class. Now there are only 38. Most of the missing students are out using drugs," Lek said.

"Our student welfare officer has had an eye on us for a long time, because he knows we smoke."

In their free time the other students play sport or go to the library, but Lek and his friends can be seen going in and out of the toilet.

"Students openly take drugs now. When they finish they throw the foil away in the toilet. Some hide the drugs in the roof," he said. "But the teachers know what we are doing. They have their spies.

"When I was caught, I wasn't taking drugs. I was the lookout for my friends."

Lek and his friends were expelled from school.

But "Kai" is luckier. He is another teenage drug victim. He was caught by his teacher with two pills in his shirt pocket. It wasn't the first time Kai had been caught and the school administrator give him two choices: drop out of school temporarily and undergo rehabilitation to get off drugs or continue taking drugs and be expelled from school.

"I chose the first," Kai said.

Kai has received a certificate from Baan Pichit Jai attesting to his being off drugs now. He still visits the centre three times a week to monitor his progress. At the same time he is making up for the school subjects that he missed.

Kai realises that the school gave him a big chance, but he has lost a lot. He had dreamed of being a soldier. But not now.

Kai is now 15 years old, but he looks much older. He has already experienced much more than he should have.

Lek is not so lucky.

"I still take drugs sometimes. The world of drug addicts is really different from the normal world. They don't understood how I am suffering when the drugs call. They just see me as a lost cause," Lek said.