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Listen to the radio report in Azeri by clicking play below
Transcript: Drug Addicts Have Few Choices in Azerbaijan
By Ayten Fahadova | February 1, 2008
BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - Introduction: Those addicted to drugs in Azerbaijan have very few choices when it comes to seeking treatment. As Ayten Farhadova reports, while psychological help is often considered part of standard treatment, it is not offered by state-run clinics. The first voice you hear is a drug addicted man who asked that his voice be altered so as not to be recognized.
Unidentified man: To be honest you always try quitting. It is very hard to do it at the present time because it is there in your brain pushing you”to do” it again.
Narrator: Our interviewee who is one of 19000 drug addicts officially registered in the country, still complains of addiction, though he hasn’t used any drugs for 6 months.
So, it is always a struggle. If a person is a drug addict, he remains as a drug addict
Narrator: According to narcologist-psychologist Araz Aliguliyev the reason for that is that rehabilitation treatment doesn’t go beyond physical addiction.
A. Aliguliyev: There is this stage of detoxication- when the pain is relieved and afterwards when patients return back to the society and to their families they start using narcotics again as a result of old habits and their inability to develop new behaviour when they reunite with their family. In other words they return to the old environment.
Narrator: Then what is needed to organize psychological rehabilitation of these people?
A.Abdullayev: A good rehabilitation center requires a great amount of financing.
Narrator: According to narcologist Akif Abdullayev, the main problem is lack of funds.
NAT SOUND Door bolts, footsteps and then a doctor talks.....
Narrator: Currently, there are 15 drug addicts receiving treatment in the private clinic, Vitaline, established by Araz Aliguliyev in September of this year. Aliguliyev says to start up the clinic didn’t require a big investment of money.
A. Aliguliyev: What is money needed for? It’s not the issue of having a big office. A great amount of financing is not necessary for applicaiton of any given type of rehabilitation. What you need is a will, desire, personnel and a venue.
Narrator: Israfil Aliyev, Head of the Working Group of the State Commission against IIlegal Drug Trafficking in the Country said that some steps are being taken in this. The President approved a specific program to carry out certain activities in this area, beginning in 2008.
İ.Aliyev: The Ministry of Health has been tasked to establish contemporary clinics and rehabilitation centers
Narrator: The 2008 state budget includes special funding for new rehabilitation centers. However, the amount is not defined yet, according to Ministry spokesman Anar Gadirli. Currently, drug users go to existent narcological dispensers to try to get rid of their addiction.
NARKO 2: I’ve tried to get rid of this addiction on a number of occasions but without success. In other words, without using drugs I couldn’t work. At last, I went to my doctor to recover from this illness.
NAT SOUND: doctor speaks to the patient: Isnt that right, what your doctor says?
Narrator: His doctor - Ludmila Jafarova, a narcologist at the Narcological Dispenser of Yasamal District says it is not that cheap for a drug addict to be cured from drug addiction.
L.Jafarova: The treatment is free in Azerbaijan but still you can’t find the medicine. Even when you find it, it is very expensive. Since our salaries are low, it is very expensive and difficult for a patient to buy a medicine which costs 200-300 dollars. On the other hand, if he or she finds money to buy drugs, and if they want to live they have to find this money to buy medicine and rescue themselves
Narrator: Araz Aliguliyev said in his private clinic the treatment could cost anywhere from a minimum of one-thousand dollars to as much as 10,000 dollars. He notes that the efficiency of the treatment depends more on the duration of drug addiction than on the amount of money.
ALIGULIYEV: Rehabilitation program is more effective for those who used drugs for just two-three years.
LUDMİLA: There were times when I received a patient who had been addicted for 17 years. He was in jail and was using drugs while in jail. I kept saying oh, God, is it possible to cure him? Do you believe they quit?
Narrator: Ludmila Jafarova’s patient , who just started his treatment says that in any case it is worth quitting.
Narko 2: At the very begining you understand and feel something, live in a different world but then you suffer from the pain. Like it or not you use it to relieve yourself from this pain. I wish all the youth could overcome this. It could lead all of us to the verge of the disaster.
Narrator: Ayten Farhadova, in Baku, Azerbaijan.
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