Persons addicted to illicit narcotics, alcohol and prescription drugs will soon have free access to treatment with the opening yesterday of the Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Unit in the compound of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC).

The non-residential medical treatment and rehabilitation centre will commence counselling of addicted persons on July 15 but it officially opened its doors yesterday. Prior to the setting up of the unit the only treatment programmes available for addicted persons were at the Salvation Army and the Phoenix Rehabilitation Centre and both were just for males and not free of cost.

Phoenix is in the process of opening a female centre which is initially being funded by its partners. Both of these agencies would be assisting the new unit at the GPHC in its work.

Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who described the opening of the unit as “ground breaking”, said that when dealing with the whole issue of drug addiction supply and demand must be looked at and while his ministry will attempt to deal with the demand the Ministry of Home Affairs is the lead agency in the supply area. The minister cautioned that the message of abstinence cannot be the only one they are sending out as they have to look at the persons who are already addicted, hence the unit.

“They (the addicts) must not be seen as criminals but as our brothers and sisters who need help,” the minister said.

And to effectively address the issue, the minister said there must be a national effort that involves all stakeholders, both private and public.  Importantly, the faith-based organisations must be part of the effort to ensure that addicted persons become productive citizens.

The minister said he hopes that by the end of June next year there would be at least one drug unit in each of the administrative regions. He said too many persons are becoming addicted to illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs.

Dr Bhiro Harry, Mental Health Coordinator at the GPHC,  giving a brief description of mental health issues and addictions, stated that people with mental illness have a higher risk of becoming addicts while addicted persons run a higher risk of developing mental illness.

But, he said, the two are different problems but they interact with each other. He said persons would better be treated if they benefited from both treatment and rehabilitation at the same location.