Drug rehab center in Munti proposed

The Muntinlupa City government led by Mayor Jaime Fresnedi and Vice Mayor Jo Joson Alcaraz has announced the creation of a wellness center which will temporarily house drug dependents until they get cured.

In a meeting headed by Alcaraz, the wellness center or care station will be situated in a bungalow-type house located inside Victoria Homes in barangay Tunasan.

Alcaraz said the wellness center is a counterpart of rehabilitation centers which will involve the participation of the victims’ parents. He said the parents are necessary because 80 percent become drug addicts due to family problems.

There will also be a psychologist who will classify dependents according to their degree of addiction to drugs. Alcaraz said the dependents are expected to be rehabilitated in the wellness center within three months.

Unlike the strict rules of a rehab center, the wellness center will allow its patients to go out whenever they want to.

Alcaraz said he will get the funding for the wellness center from the income of their drug testing laboratory which is now providing quality service to private companies. He said the lab offers drug tests at prices cheaper than private labs. The vice mayor said the drug testing laboratory is at the Ospital ng Muntinlupa.

Alcaraz said they expect the wellness center to become fully operational by next month. However, he said "hard core" drug addicts will still be referred to the Bicutan Rehabilitation Center.

Alcaraz, also chair of the Muntinlupa Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Council (MDAPACC), organizer of various lecture forums and other related projects to combat illegal drugs, said they will deploy lecturers in all public elementary and high schools to lecture on the ill effects of drug abuse. Films related to drug addiction will also be shown to students to warn them against hazards of illegal drugs.