Rehabs all over the world are firetraps

May 6 the world woke to the news of yet another fire in a rehabilitation center. This time tragedy struck the "Sacred Heart of Jesus" in Chosica near Lima in Peru.

14 people died. The cure for their addiction turned into their death.

Together with our U.S partners our organization has been involved in alerting the authorities when fire-escapes and doors have been found locked or blocked at group homes, residential treatment centers and boarding schools. We do know that parents and relatives want to keep teenagers locked up based on the claim that they need to be kept safe, but fire regulations cannot be ignored. Otherwise it will lead to tragedies like the one in Chosica.

As the article states this fire were the second one this year. Another fire claimed the life of 29 people.

I Russia there have been several fires with many victims.

It is stated that the rule is that residential treatment centers in Peru are in fact private prisons where people are held against their will. We must state that it is time for Peru to clean up their act. They need to regulate the treatment centers and close those down which don't provide professional treatment. Fact is that we in Denmark do know that most treatment of addiction are faith-based and waste of time and money. The newspapers and Television Stations in Denmark can random-pick various faith-based treatment centers and show the viewers scandal after scandal involving the tax-payers money. It is only a question whether the viewers become tired of hearing the same old news repeated all the time.

People who suffer from addiction will hit rock bottom and be ready for treatment at a certain point. Only then it is time to intervene and offer professional treatment. Then you can provide it without locking people up and you can offer it for a much lower price enabling the society to treat a higher amount of addicts for the same funds.

Portugal has shown the path countries should choose when battling addiction. They have decriminalized drug-use and have shifted their focus to the distribution network. As result more people enter treatment because the lack of stress from the authorities gives them time to consider their situation and in general drug use is down.

Please do help your relatives who suffer from addiction. Be there when they reach rock bottom and do not enable them by giving them anything but clean clothes and food. Don’t try to lock them up or you will pick in as much risk as they are as result of their addiction.

Sources:

• Peru drug clinic fire kills 14 people locked inside (The Guardian, May 6 2012)
• Fire in Moscow hospital kills 45 people (USA-today, December 9, 2006)
• 37 killed in fire at drug rehab clinic in Kazakhstan with barred windows (My Daily News, September 14, 2009)
• Portugal drug law show results ten years on, experts say (AFP - Google Hosted News, July 1, 2011)