?For every drug addict, there are 10 persons who may have to bear the drastic consequences of drug dependency,? says a report. Social workers estimate that there are today 22,000 drug-addicts ? a number in constant rise as from the 80s in Mauritius. The reasons why people take addictive substances vary a lot. Drug abuse not only causes much harm to the consumer him/herself but the dramatic consequences on his/her environment are often difficult to imagine. It is not only the addict?s problem but becomes the pro-blem of the whole family. The family unit often explodes and the indirect victims are the parents, siblings, spouse or/and children of the drug user. The problems fa-milies encounter are:

■ <B>Finance and domestic violence </B>

Families have lots of difficulty to meet both ends. Where the main breadwinner should have catered for the whole family, most of his earnings are spent on drugs. The family needs are neglected. Where the drug addict is unemployed, things are even more complicated. Things in the house are sold at cheaper cost for the daily dose. The spouse?s salary is often snatched for drug purchase and things become worse if he/she does not work. ?There was no money for food. He took all my earnings for his daily dose. He was never interested to follow a treatment and reform himself. He was violent with my children and me, threatening us with knives. My children could not concentrate at school and were disturbed. Life had become unbearable. I had no other option than to return to my parents? home with my three children after 18 years of marriage??, says Waheda, a drug addict?s wife. Old parents are not spared. Their pension benefits are more than often taken by force and by threat.

■ <B> Prostitution and HIV/Aids</B>

Many women have been dragged into drug addiction. They are sometimes forced to become sex workers to get their daily dose and their partner?s. Not to mention that they are sometimes daily victims of physical, psychological and sexual abuse.

Another heart-rending issue is that more drug-addicts are being contaminated with the HIV virus. A great number of HIV-positive patients are drug-addicts. Statistics as at October 2007 of the AIDS Unit state that about 82.7% of the local HIV- positive population are intravenous drug users. This is quite alarming as unprotected sex with their partners is bound to contaminate the latter by the HIV virus and other sexually transmitted diseases (STD).

In many cases, drug addicts hide from their partners their HIV infection. Up to now, there is no law that forces a patient or the institution that has done their scree-ning to tell their partners about their HIV status. Even the risk of contaminating someone and putting in danger his/her life has no priority over confidentiality!

■ <B>The effect on children</B>

In this unhealthy environment where drug-abuse, violence and crime prevail, children are the first victims and often traumatized. Disturbed mind, difficulty to concentrate on studies which often leads to low performance, educational failure and early school drop out are the indirect consequences of living with a drug addict.

Others do not even get the chance of really fulfilling their right to education. Financial problems often push these young kids to leave the school benches and step into the labour market while they are still at an early age. Their risk-prone environment leads to a greater probability of being abused and led into juvenile delinquency and crime. Poverty, drug availability, poor education, lack of maturity that will lead to unemployment, lack of money, negative role models and peer pressure often lead them and keep them in the same paths for generations.

■ <B>The vicious cycle</B>

Somehow drug abuse and poverty are entangled into a vicious cycle. Often, when the addict has stopped taking drugs, it is still difficult for him to find a job. People are reluctant to give him/her a job. The broken trust is difficult to re-establish. Being unemployed, the person become more vulnerable; the bad company and influence of their drug-addict friends makes him/her more likely to relapse. This means relapsing into darkness for the family too, which will have to bear once more the same miseries and suffering. Drug abuse is related to a set of socio-demographic and individual variables like unemployment, poverty, bleak future, low self-esteem and poor social integration. There are cases where several generations of the same family have been caught into the vicious circle of drug-addiction.

■ <B>Conclusion</B>

However, as prevention is always better than cure, if started as from an early age it should help reduce the harm done to children and to families as a whole. We must ensure that non-users, especially children and adolescents, do not start and that experimenters do not escalate the use. In the fight against drug addiction, psychological determination is more important. Medication is only a support but the real battle is within oneself. Goodwill and family support are also great determining in eradicating this modern time scourge which drug addiction is.

<B>Bilkiss JAFFARALLI</B>

Testimony

Kathy, 21 years old, a victim of of the vicious circle </B>

?My father is a drug addict. He abandoned me when I was 9 months old. I was left at the mercy of a relative who raised me. Due to financial dire straits, I could not complete my primary studies and left school in Standard V. My curiosity and the pressure of a friend led me to experience drugs. I gradually became dependent on drugs. I was exchanging my syringe with my friends. Sometimes, there was no money and to get my daily dose; I became an occasional sex worker. I have followed several detoxification treatments but still, I could not get out. Two years ago, I learnt that I was HIV positive. Today I?m a single-mother. My daughter is 15 months old. Thankfully, she is not contaminated. I don?t want her to undergo the same fate as mine.?

<B>Where and how to get help</B>

The consequences of drug abuse are unlimited. However, there are also ways of trying to get out of it. Though much has been lost but the little that has remained can still be grasped.

Detox centers</B>

There are various detoxification centres around the island offering help. People can opt for classic drug and alcohol detoxification. The services offered by the centres vary from residential to out-patient treatments. Special treatment programmes have been designed to cater for the special needs of women and mothers who have a substance addiction problem. Hereunder the list of detoxification centres :

Centre D?Acceuil de terre Rouge

Centre de Solidarité Pour Une Nouvelle Vie

HELP De-Addiction centre

Dr. Idrice Goomany Centre

Chrysalide (for women only)

Etoile D?Esperance (for women with an alcohol problem)

Ayurveda Centre

Sangram Sewa Sadan

Lotus Centre (Central Prison)

Barkly Treatment Centre.

Counselling services</B>

Besides treatment, counselling and rehabilitation services are available in almost every centre not only for the abuser but also counseling for the whole family. There are also various services offered by the ministry of Women?s rights, Child development, Family welfare & Consumer protection under the Child Development Unit and the Family Welfare Unit. The hotlines are 119 and 113.

Methadone </B>

Methadone treatment is another option. The patients must apply through one of the three centres (Dr. Idrice Goomany Centre, Sangram Seva Sadan and Help de Addiction) that refer patients to the National Detoxification Centre where a residential substitution treatment of 14 days is offered. After the two weeks, patients have to go to the nearest hospital for daily methadone intake and the treatment will be of 6 months? duration and upward. With the advent of the methadone programme, many people have been able to make a new start and lead a normal ?drug and violence free? lifestyle.

Upcoming methadone treatment for women</B>

It should be stressed that there was no methadone treatment offered to women; but it should be available by the end of February 2008. The patients will be admitted in a new Ward 5 of Brown Sequard Hospital. Nurses will be specially trained to cater for the special needs of patients undergoing ?methadone substitution? therapy.

STRAIGHT ANSWERS

<B>Vikash Baichoo, </B> <I>Psychologist

● <B>What is the effect on a child who lives with a drug-addict? </B>

The child is very much affected but it all depends on his/her age. A child under 6 years old does not really understand. If he/she does, this can have disastrous consequences on a vulnerable child.

● <B> What are these consequences?</B>

The direct consequences will be that he/she will be preoccupied with the problem. He/she will also be subjected to various pressures from the drug addict, who can do anything for money. Addicts may even try to sell their kids for drugs. The indirect consequences will be that at school, if other kids find about parent/s, he could be victimised and marginalised. It will be difficult for that child to function normally.

● Are such children more at risk of getting into drugs and being involved in delinquency and then crime? </B>

The risks are high. Such a child might be influenced by the drug addict?s behaviour. The child might also imitate his/her parent as a way of escaping problems. If a girl has seen her mother prostituting herself both for drugs and easy money, she might take this behaviour as acceptable and normal. There are risks that she takes after her mother.

● <B>Any particular cases that have struck you? </B>

There was a case where a prostitute mother sold her daughter to get money for drugs. The 10-year old was sold to a foreigner and forced by her mother to go with him. The mother had no consideration for what her daughter had to undergo.

The relationship between a mother and a daughter is one of the strongest bonds. A mother selling her own child to a stranger, really shocked me. It defies all family bonds and is the lowest level to which that a mother can go.

Another case was that of a 8-year old girl raped by her drug-addict father. She also witnesses her elder sister being raped. After being released from jail, the father raped her again when she was 11. This has created a dissonance in the mind of the victim, whose father supposed to protect her, has been her rapist. She cannot reconcile with both ideas and deal with the conflict. This is teh main reason why many incest victims prefer to keep silent.

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