Mosques in South help to treat addict

The deep South has widespread drug abuse, with about 200,000 users, but a new royal project using religious bonding to attract voluntary rehabilitation promises to reduce the problem, Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri told a Pattani press conference yesterday.

The users are mainly from 15-24 years of age and tend to refuse to seek treatment or detoxification at government hospitals, prompting long-term addiction.

This has concerned Her Majesty the Queen, who has proposed the idea of seeking cooperation from imams to use mosques as centres to encourage drug addicts to seek treatment.

Under the royally-initiated scheme, mosque officials and imams work jointly with local or Muslim public health volunteers to ensure continuous treatment and post-detox follow-up.

Now 13 mosques are taking part in the scheme, which saw a large number of rehabilitated drug users taking part, with only 7 per cent returning to their old habit.

A minimum of one mosque in all districts in the three southernmost provinces will be operating under this scheme by the end of next year, Witthaya said.

Among the other measures is a strictly-enforced ban on the sale of many chemicals or medicine used as reactants to illegal drugs, such as certain brands of cough medicine or pseudoephedrine, without a doctor's prescription.

In reference to the ongoing violence and three bomb attacks last Friday, Yongyuth Wichaidit, a deputy prime minister and interior minister, said the motivation should not be seen as the new government taking power.

Muslims in the South were not interested in separatism but still felt uneasy with some sense of injustice or the lack of possessions, he said.

Illegal businesses have been operating for years in the South, ranging from goods and oil smuggling, gambling and drug dealing, which also benefited corrupt officials, he said.

Responding to news reports about the possible appointment of General Panlop Pinmanee as director of the Internal Security Operations Command, where he had served during the Thaksin Shinawatra government, Yongyuth said it was just an idea.

He had not seen a statement |saying Panlop's appointment could not be made in terms of legal |technicalities.

He also dismissed reports about Pol General Adul Saengsingkaew, the new secretary-general of the Narcotics Control Board, serving concurrently as director of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre.

Witthaya said two more people have died since Friday, bringing the total to five, while 25 were still receiving hospital treatment among the 115 wounded in the three bomb attacks.