Home > News > Walking out clean

Walking out clean

31 October 2009

Twenty-two-year-old Dorji would begin his day waking up at somebody’s doorstep. Hungry and emaciated, he would fall back on Nitrosun and Relipen followed by a joint of hash. Hunger numbed and drowsy vigour restored, he would forget all his ordeal. For six years, this was the life he knew. With his qualification of class X, work was hard to come by.
“I wanted to die on drugs,” said Dorji, who thought he had hit the dead end of the road. In the nick of time, something he calls ‘a miracle’ turned around his life. This November, he will walk out drug-free from the Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for Drug and Alcohol Dependents (TRCDAD) in Thimphu. Since he started treatment at the centre, he has put on seven kg. Dorji will be the first among 10 clients at the TRCDAD to graduate from the centre since it opened last August.
A few other clients will follow him, clean. The biggest challenge for Dorji now is staying out of drugs after he steps onto the same old streets. Heavy memories still hang on him. He remembers finding shelter in a huge cardboard refrigerator case by the Wangchhu riverside.
But he is confident that he can walk the streets with his head held high. “I am confident for I have 12 steps they have taught me to fight drugs,” he said. “I feel my life will never be the same.” Back at the centre, with memory lapses as a major side effect, four more recovering addicts are finding hope in life.
Tashi, 20, who used to take a file of Nitrosun at a go, had seen a ray of hope when he landed up at the erstwhile Rewa rehab centre in Thimphu. But when the centre closed down following a violent incident, Tashi was thrown back onto the streets. And he relapsed. After joining TRCDAD, he has reclaimed much of his youthful life. Now he is hoping to follow Dorji’s path.
Another recovering addict is a peer counsellor at the rehab centre. Thirty-one-year-old Tshewang started abusing drugs at the age of 16. “I never realized that I was addicted. By the time I was helpless, I had lived my life that way for 12 years,” he said. Tshewang will celebrate his 3 years of sober birthday on November 26.
The hardest thing for 27-year-old Pema, a recovering alcohol addict at the centre, is withdrawal symptoms. Before joining the centre, he was often tortured by hallucinations, muscle cramps and sweating. He would end up getting pain killer injections in hospital, which was of little help. He relapsed 14 times.
Beaming with their new-found meaning in life, the recovering addicts are aspiring to become peer counsellors at the rehab centre. Meanwhile, observers are asking what the government will do to help them rediscover the mainstream world.
“If they don’t get work for more than a year, they might relapse,” said Lama Shenphen Zangpo, a prominent social worker and a volunteer at the centre.
Some still remain on streets
At around 8 pm on October 28, shops along Norzin Lam in Thimphu are pulling down their shutters. But a few people hang around the corners waiting for the nightclubs to open.
Out on the deserted street, a sleeping figure comes into view. A girl in her 20s has fallen flat, pants completely down. Totally drunk, she is unable to pick herself up. Moments later, two police men drag her to the city police station.
Meanwhile, a pale-faced, lean boy in a huge black coat walks into a claustrophobic bar around the corner. Describing himself as 18-year-old Sonam, he pulls a stool to sit. Barely stable, he confesses to drinking six bottles of Druk 11000 beer on empty stomach.
A class VIII dropout, Sonam is all by himself on the street. “Drinking doesn’t help, I know that. But when you have to sleep out in the cold, it sure does,” he says. He sleeps at somebody’s doorstep. (All names in this story are changed)

Twenty-two-year-old Dorji would begin his day waking up at somebody’s doorstep. Hungry and emaciated, he would fall back on Nitrosun and Relipen followed by a joint of hash. Hunger numbed and drowsy vigour restored, he would forget all his ordeal. For six years, this was the life he knew. With his qualification of class X, work was hard to come by.

“I wanted to die on drugs,” said Dorji, who thought he had hit the dead end of the road. In the nick of time, something he calls ‘a miracle’ turned around his life. This November, he will walk out drug-free from the Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for Drug and Alcohol Dependents (TRCDAD) in Thimphu. Since he started treatment at the centre, he has put on seven kg. Dorji will be the first among 10 clients at the TRCDAD to graduate from the centre since it opened last August.

A few other clients will follow him, clean. The biggest challenge for Dorji now is staying out of drugs after he steps onto the same old streets. Heavy memories still hang on him. He remembers finding shelter in a huge cardboard refrigerator case by the Wangchhu riverside.

But he is confident that he can walk the streets with his head held high. “I am confident for I have 12 steps they have taught me to fight drugs,” he said. “I feel my life will never be the same.” Back at the centre, with memory lapses as a major side effect, four more recovering addicts are finding hope in life.

Tashi, 20, who used to take a file of Nitrosun at a go, had seen a ray of hope when he landed up at the erstwhile Rewa rehab centre in Thimphu. But when the centre closed down following a violent incident, Tashi was thrown back onto the streets. And he relapsed. After joining TRCDAD, he has reclaimed much of his youthful life. Now he is hoping to follow Dorji’s path.

Another recovering addict is a peer counsellor at the rehab centre. Thirty-one-year-old Tshewang started abusing drugs at the age of 16. “I never realized that I was addicted. By the time I was helpless, I had lived my life that way for 12 years,” he said. Tshewang will celebrate his 3 years of sober birthday on November 26.

The hardest thing for 27-year-old Pema, a recovering alcohol addict at the centre, is withdrawal symptoms. Before joining the centre, he was often tortured by hallucinations, muscle cramps and sweating. He would end up getting pain killer injections in hospital, which was of little help. He relapsed 14 times.

Beaming with their new-found meaning in life, the recovering addicts are aspiring to become peer counsellors at the rehab centre. Meanwhile, observers are asking what the government will do to help them rediscover the mainstream world.

“If they don’t get work for more than a year, they might relapse,” said Lama Shenphen Zangpo, a prominent social worker and a volunteer at the centre.

Some still remain on streets

At around 8 pm on October 28, shops along Norzin Lam in Thimphu are pulling down their shutters. But a few people hang around the corners waiting for the nightclubs to open.

Out on the deserted street, a sleeping figure comes into view. A girl in her 20s has fallen flat, pants completely down. Totally drunk, she is unable to pick herself up. Moments later, two police men drag her to the city police station.

Meanwhile, a pale-faced, lean boy in a huge black coat walks into a claustrophobic bar around the corner. Describing himself as 18-year-old Sonam, he pulls a stool to sit. Barely stable, he confesses to drinking six bottles of Druk 11000 beer on empty stomach.

A class VIII dropout, Sonam is all by himself on the street. “Drinking doesn’t help, I know that. But when you have to sleep out in the cold, it sure does,” he says. He sleeps at somebody’s doorstep.

(All names in this story are changed)

By Kuenzang C Choden

Ratings: 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Email this page Email this page     Print this page Print this page    

Posted by Bhutan Observer · Filed Under News 

Comments

3 Responses to “Walking out clean”

  1. Tharpala on October 31st, 2009 6:04 am

    It is about time we did some thing to solve problems of such kind before it become uncontrollable. I strongly feel it is the national issue. The GNH isn’t anything by itself if isn’t made feel for everyone in the country. Think everyone to do something for them.

  2. Tharpala on October 31st, 2009 6:06 am

    It is about time we did some thing to solve problems of such kind before it becomes uncontrollable. I strongly feel it is the national issue. The GNH isn’t anything by itself if it isn’t felt for everyone alike in this country. Think everyone to do something for them.

  3. dawa lhaden on November 5th, 2009 4:15 am

    my boyfreind leaky. we haave been in realtionship for many years now. we are so happy and alys panning to get marreid. our parents, freinds and silibing where happy. he is not only my boyfreind he is also my bestfreind. we both love eachother every much.
    after few years ago everthing is changed and all the promises he made are all gone in vain. i am far form where he is. i am studing hard to make my future bright so that we can live happily. leaky took a wrong trun, he started taking drugs. drope off from school. fight go to jail and so much spoiled, there is nothing we can help him. just watch him die one day.. now all my freinds. family are so consern about that. but his sister put him to rehab. he wants to changed for goods. now he is doing very well and making some progess. gaining some weight.
    thanks for the rehab center . for giving him second chance and making him better then before. his life is gonna be changed now.
    thanks once again.

Leave your comment





Note: Comments are moderated by Bhutan Observer, and may not appear until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.

Bhutan Observer is Digg proof thanks to caching by WP Super Cache