Caritas will be offering a new drug rehabilitation programme and residential service targeted specifically at drug users under the age of 18.
Caritas executive director Leonid McKay said that changing trends in drug use engendered new challenges for Caritas’ 30-year model of treatment. Although heroin use was strongest among adults, most young people with drug problems abused of cocaine and new, synthetic drugs.
Easily ordered over the internet, traces of synthetic drugs are not detected in a person’s system through conventional drug tests and it was therefore difficult to grasp the extent of the problem.
“The chemical composition of synthetic drugs changes at such a rapid pace that it eschews the list enshrined in law,” Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia said.
“We always say that drug laws try to catch up with the developments in the drug sector. We need cooperation and good contacts, as well as way to educate our youths on the dangers.”
Dr Farrugia was speaking yesterday following the renewal of a contract between the ministry and Caritas for various services offered by the Church-run NGO in public social partnership with the government in relation to the treatment and rehabilitation of alcohol and other dependencies.
The building currently earmarked for the under 18 drug rehabilitation services is the former residential home for female drug victims in Birkirkara, which was vacated after new premises were recently opened at the San Blas complex.
However, Dr Farrugia said that the plan was to have a specialised building, incorporating a lot of outdoor space, where to treat the minors.
The service is expected to be rolled out later this year after staff receive specialised training. Mr McKay noted that the services offered to minors could not be a “copy and paste” of those currently being offered to adults as they were delicate in nature and would be expected to treat children as young as 13.
Dr Farrugia added that their education should not be disrupted while they were receiving treatment.
Members of the judiciary had long been stressing the need for targeted, specialised services aimed at drug victims who are under the age of 18.
Aftercare services also needed to be strengthened. “Aftercare currently exists only on paper,” Mr McKay said. “Drug users’ recovery lasts a lifetime. Reintegration into society is the most delicate period of the process, even more so than residential care. We need to look at upping the level of support offered and extending the hours, particularly during the weekend when most services are closed.”
He warned that the number of Caritas patients was on the rise, with 20 per cent of over 600 people treated by the NGO last year being new clients.
A study published last week showed that inmates’ participation in community-based drug rehabilitation programmes was not effectively reducing the possibility of them relapsing.
Confronted with this data, Dr Farrugia admitted that aftercare services needed to be greatly expanded and to be more holistic in approach.
“We must look at whether the person has relapsed, whether he has found a job, and whether his family and, indeed, society has accepted him back. We are also looking at having job coaches to help them enter the la-bour market.”