Drug use positive 20 government workers undergo rehab

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The community-based rehabilitation program being adopted by the Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (PADAC) of Negros Occidental goes province-wide, with 19 local government employees—who tested positive for drug use—among those who volunteered themselves to undergo drug rehabilitation.

Nineteen of the 20 employees of the Murcia town LGU in Negros Occidental were among the 43 moderate drug dependents, including three women, who volunteered to undergo the 1st Step Recovery Program at the Green Pasture Retreat House in Barangay Santa Cruz, Murcia.

Murcia Vice Mayor Gerardo Rojas the other day said the recovery programs aims to help the LGU employees, together with drug personalities who earlier surrendered, to reform themselves. They are expected to undergo counseling, spiritual, skills, entrepreneurial, and leadership training, among others, in preparation for their re-integration to the mainstream society.

The Murcia Police recorded more than 800 drug pushers and users who surrendered to them, in line with its Oplan Tokhang campaign, records of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office showed. (FREEMAN)