In ‘Sober Houses,’ Heroin Addicts Learn to Help Themselves

In ‘Sober Houses,’ Heroin Addicts Learn to Help Themselves – This is the VOA Special English Health Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | http Tourists come to Zanzibar for its white sand beaches and historic buildings in Stone Town. But something else also makes its way to the Tanzanian island: heroin trafficked across the Indian Ocean from Asia. Most of the heroin shipped through East Africa is headed for Europe and North America. But Reychad Abdool of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says a lot of it stays on the continent. “We know for a fact that heroin is being used in at least thirty countries in Africa. And we also know for a fact that the number of countries reporting injecting drug use, especially of heroin, is also increasing in Africa.” The problem in Zanzibar has led to some creative local solutions. Suleiman Mauly stopped using heroin six years ago. Now he operates a network of so-called sober houses. These are run by addicts themselves to help one another recover. There are nine sober houses — eight for men and one for women. Mr. Mauly himself went through a drug treatment program in Kenya. But it cost around two thousand dollars, he says. Staying in a sober house costs about one hundred dollars a month. Most of the people are supported by their families. Treatment is based on the idea that drug addiction is more of a public health problem than a crime. Mr. Mauly says this is still a new idea to many people. “Because addiction, it’s a disease, and addicts need treatment. But people, they hear that addicts …

Pharmacy robberies double in 2012 in Maine

Filed under: drug addiction help for families

State police say there were 56 pharmacy robberies last year, with drug addicts taking increasingly desperate measures. In one case, a man robbed a pharmacy inside a Wal-Mart filled with customers in broad daylight. In other year-end statistics, Maine …
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The Top 10 local stories of 2012

Filed under: drug addiction help for families

Faced with a record number of heroin-related deaths in the previous year, Madison County authorities began an unprecedented crackdown on heroin abuse, with several people charged with drug-induced death crimes. Along the way, a flaw in one state law …
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LETTER: Suggestions to help prevent another Newtown

Filed under: drug addiction help for families

Declare victory in the War on Drugs; release all who are in prison on drug charges when no act of violence was committed; treat drug addiction as a disease, not a crime; focus on apprehending, convicting and imprisoning people who commit or who aid and …
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