Health Sec. Paulyn Jean Ubial said during the first Dangerous Drugs Summit here that while the number of people under rehabilitation seemed low, it is still within the acceptable worldwide trend of one percent severe cases.
Ubial stressed that the DOH regards even such severe cases of drug dependence as being capable of rehabilitation. “There is no such thing as a hopeless case in the DOH,” she stressed.
John Castriones, undersecretary for operations of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), explained the low population in rehabilitation centers, saying that many drug users have been reluctant to undergo rehabilitation because they are family breadwinners. “This is a problem we are now trying to address,” he said.
On the other hand, Dr. Benjamin Reyes, chairman of the Dangerous Drug Bureau, said another reason was the stigma attached to being rehabilitated in such centers. “They think only the dregs of society or those mentally deranged undergo rehab,” he noted.
Ubial said that of the 48 drug rehabilitation centers, only 15 are run by the government, while the rest are private.
