Editor;
Re: Suphan Buri holds a vowing ceremony for former drug addicts leaving rehab (PM Saturday, 20 June 2015) – We will place bets that they will not be able to remain free of drug and alcohol use. This is a disease and not a moral or intellectual problem. Oath taking is of no use what so ever. Time and again over centuries we have witnessed the mystery that addicts and alcoholics take so called pledges to not use only to see them relapse time and again. And the only answer that science and medicine could come up with is that it is a disease. The treatment for this disease is not more orthodoxy or more religion or more punishment. Those only serve to increase the problem.
The answer that millions worldwide have experienced is a spiritual transformation and group support. There are very well known groups that provide such and this is the 80th anniversary of that group.
The government and their courts should learn that these groups do in fact provide the answer to these dilemmas. In America, drug courts have been set up that only deal with drug and alcohol related crimes. They have been very successful in getting addicts to remain drug free and out of prison. The government would do well to look around the world to see what works and what doesn’t.
TPC
