648 complete community-based rehabilitation program
The City Social Welfare and Development Office disclosed that some six hundred forty-eight drug surrenderers in the city completed their 6-month community-based rehabilitation program that allowed them to be immersed back with mainstream society for them to live better lives.
Social Worker Officer Ellen Dayag stated there were some 719 drug surrenderees from the various barangays in the city who initially availed of the community-based rehabilitation program for them to recover from the effects of the use of illegal drugs.
She claimed those who did not complete the program reportedly experienced relapse but efforts are still being undertaken by the concerned agencies and the city government to bring them back to the program to spare them from the dangers of drug use.
Dayag said that the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) had been providing psycho-social treatment to the reported drug surrenderees from the various barangays of the city with many being classified as low risk, some of medium risk while a good number of them were categorized as high risk.
According to her, drug surrenderees who are low risk shall undergo a 30-day rehabilitation program administered by concerned experts duly accredited by the CSWDO, Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), while those medium risk will have to undergo the 6-month integrated participatory community-based rehabilitation program. Those surrenderees under the high risk category are subjected to voluntary and involuntary residential treatment that will extend for a longer period of time to allow for their recovery from their addiction.
The city social worker stipulated there are enough private residential facilities who cater to the rehabilitation needs of drug surrenderees as there is no public residential drug treatment facility in the Summer Capital.
The number of drug surrenderees who underwent the required community-based rehabilitation program is way below the 2,554 surrenderees that voluntarily surrendered to police authorities during the implementation of the enhanced anti-drug campaign of the previous administration.
Dayag said that the CSWDO, BCPO and PDEA continue to provide the appropriate interventions to individuals who need to recover from the impact of the use of illegal drugs for them to recover, rejoin society and live a normal life.
Baguio City joined the nation in the celebration of the Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Week with various activities to advance the government’s efforts to rid society of illegal drugs that pose a serious threat to the future of the youth who are the ones mostly exposed to substance abuse. – Dexter A. See
