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 …

Drug-war spending versus drug addiction

Filed under: drug addiction help

Here's Matt Groff's chart showing the relationship between US drug-war spending and US drug addiction (or rather, the lack of such a relationship). It's a compelling way of demonstrating the economic foolishness of the drug war, though that pales in …
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Britney Spears accused of drug addiction

Filed under: drug addiction help

According to her manager's claims, the singer's famous head-shaving and car-smashing antics were a result of her drug addiction. He also claimed that the singer was hooked on prescription drugs, downing up to 30 a day, which led to her meltdown in 2007.
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