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The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 564

Development of Community-Based Drug Abuse Counseling, Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Cambodia

“Phnom Penh: The workshop based on the Memorandum of Understanding between the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] in the Asia Pacific region and the Ministry of Health on Development of Community-Based Drug Abuse, Counseling, Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Cambodia for five cities and provinces seriously affected by drug use is very important. This was stated by Lieutenant-General Lour Ramin, the secretary-general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, during the workshop at the Cambodiana Hotel on the morning of 6 June 2008.

“The secretary-general added that the Project TD/CMB/04/H83 “Development of Community-Based Drug Abuse Counseling, Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Cambodia” [as part of the Asia & Pacific Amphetamine-Type Stimulants Information Center] had been implemented in the 2005 to 2010 national planning of the National Authority for Combating Drugs. The H83 project agreement had been signed by Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, head of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, and UNODC, and its implementation is administered and monitored by the general-secretariat of the National Authority for Combating Drugs. This project has started to create groups engaged in counseling, treatment and rehabilitation services, and the members of these groups come from government institutions and non-government organizations that support these polices and anti-drug programs, including concerns for health, HIV, AIDS, education, social affairs, human rights, justice, and good governance. Based on the results of the survey on drug addicts in 60 communes of twelve cities and towns badly affected by drugs, there is hope that state institutions and non-government organizations, that have the ability and have the necessary human resources, will initiate community based counseling, treatment, and rehabilitation services for drug addicts. At the same time while the program is implemented in selected places, there will also be training about treatment and rehabilitation services, and methods to protect persons who get easily involved in drug use.

“At the workshop following from the Memorandum of Understanding of 29 May 2008, members from twelve cities and provinces which are seriously affected by drugs, formulated the following recommendations: 1. Publish the results of the surveys in the cities and provinces. 2. Evaluate the needs for training and for the strengthening of the capacities on the provincial and city levels, in order to intervene at the communities. 3. Plan training and strengthen capacities based on the evaluation of the needs. 4. Link health centers, referral hospitals, and drug addicts’ treating centers to reduce the need for many drug related actions on the commune level; and 5. Collect and organize documents providing multi-sector solutions for counseling and community based treatment for drug addicts, which include drug addicts’ treating centers at the localities of the rehabilitation services, including education, preventive education, creation of supporting groups, the control of problems etc.

“Lieutenant-General Lour Ramin pointed out that documents of the project, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, president of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, on behalf of the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia, agreed to the following points:

The funds will be managed on an annual basis by the Ministry of Health for expenses of salaries and of other expenses related to medicines for the centers selected, and for centers created by the royal government countrywide in the future.

Staff of the Ministry of Health will continue to train different skills such as psychology to doctors and medics through the International Organization for Migration [IOM] and other relevant programs.
Asia & Pacific Amphetamine-Type Stimulants Information Center]

Continue training of different skills for staff of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, regarding rehabilitation and other relevant programs. Be prepared to accept new good methods when projects finish, and include new methods to the learning programs of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation.
Train law enforcement officials to use drug control laws which consider the situation of drug users who are victims, and allow those who voluntarily receive treatment, to have the right to get treatment. Create more centers for counseling on treatment and on rehabilitation at cities and provinces, such as Sihanoukville, Siem Reap, and Kompong Cham.

“This program provides very important solutions to reduce drug use in Cambodia, and it is expected to be highly efficient for the rehabilitation of drug addicts in different localities, with the involvement of the National Authority for Combating Drugs to fight drugs as well as the Royal Government, to prevent drug use and to reduce different problems which might happen because of the spread of illegal drug use.” Koh Santepheap, Vol.41, #6366, 9.6.2008

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Monday, 9 June 2008

Chouy Khmer, Vol.2, #116, 9.6.2008

• Police Took Editor-in-Chief of Moneaksekar Khmer, Mr. Dam Sith, to Prey Sar Prison on the Accusations of Defamation and Disinformation [8 June 2008 – for quoting what Mr. Sam Rainsy had said. – Even the Minister of Information is said in the Cambodia Daily to propose a release on bail]
• [President of a nongovernmental border commission based in Paris] Sean Peng Se Criticizes the Government over the New Border Demarcation of Preah Vihear Temple Affecting Khmer Territory

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.7, #1662, 8-9.6.2008

• Political Parties [and Civil Society Organizations] Support the Letter of the Great Heroic King [the former King Norodom Sihanouk, asking political parties to stop using the monarchy for election propaganda]

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.2, #172, 8-10.6.2008

• Election Observers Request the Presence of Independent Organizations to Observe the Printing of Ballots
• Civil Society Organizations Ask the Khmer Rouge Tribunal to Comment on the Serious Illness of [former Khmer Rouge leader] Khiev Samphan
• Khieu Kanharith Rejects the Call [by the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights – LICADHO] for the Government to Reopen the Angkor Ratha Radio Station in Kratie

Khmer Amatak, Vol.9, #589, 9.6.2008

• Hun Sen Said if He Were Really Addicted to Drugs [as accused by opponents], He Would Order Soldiers and Tanks to Kill All Opposition [he said on 7 June 2008]

Koh Santepheap, Vol.41, #6366, 9.6.2008

• 139 Cambodian Troops Left to Fulfill Mine Clearing Duty in Sudan [8 June 2008]
• Memorandum of Understanding between UNODC and the Ministry of Health on Drug Issues Follow-Up
• A Surprise in Thailand: Father Chained His Daughter for More than Twenty Years [she is supposed to be mentally ill]

Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.15, #3481, 9.6.2008

• It Is Time that the Government Should Release Rice Stocks of Nearly Two Million Tonnes to Be Sold for Citizens at a Cheap Price

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4610, 9.6.2008

• [900 meters] Bridge Construction Connecting Koh Puos [island off Sihanoukville beach] Began Under an Investment Project of Euro 300 Million
• [US based] International Republican Institute: Knowledge about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Becomes More Widespread

Samleng Yuvachun Khmer, Vol.15, #3328, 8-9.6.2008

• National Authority for Solving Land Disputes Plans to Reclaim Illegally Taken Land of 300,000 Hectares during 2008
• Phnom Penh Authority Remains Unable to Motivate CINTRI Company [garbage collecting] to Collect Garbage More Efficiently

Have a look at last week’s editorial: Realizing that energy problems are not simply oil problems – so what shall we do?

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