Bali - a haven from drugs for Australians?

SBS World News Radio: Known for beaches, nightlife and notoriously tough laws against narcotics, Bali is now seeing increasing numbers of Australians for treatment for serious drug addictions.

Bali- a haven from drugs for Australians?

Bali- a haven from drugs for Australians?

The streets of Kuta are full of tourists enjoying the vibrant nightlife.

But a short drive away, in a quieter part of Bali, is a refuge for Australians seeking the opposite.

A 31-year-old Perth woman named Chanel is one of them, in treatment for methamphetamine addiction.

"I'm here to get clean. I've been doing drugs for the last 15 years. I'd mentally reached rock bottom. I was going crazy. And I needed to get away to find myself again."

She is one of a growing number of Australians travelling to Bali not to party but to seek help for drug addiction.

A 33-year-old Gold Coast man named Mitch has just finished a month-long stay at Bali's newest rehabilitation clinic focused on Australian clients.

He says he, too, has battled a methamphetamine addiction.

"I tried everything that I could do to keep this habit going. Everything. I was a compulsive liar. I used to use all the money from my business, everything that I possibly had, to keep my drug habit going. And what money I didn't spend on drugs, I spent on the pokie machines, you know, trying to win money to keep going. And it just got to the point where there was no other choice for me besides to come here or go to jail or die."

Some of the Australians are drawn by lower costs and shorter waiting lists, compared to back home.

But for Mitch, Indonesia's tough laws against drugs are actually part of the appeal.

"Both times I've come here, I've always been too scared to ever touch drugs or anything like that, because of the laws here. So I knew for a fact, coming here was probably the best idea ever that my dad had, because I'm scared, I'm scared of doing anything like that, you know ... in this country, you know?"

Indonesia amended its narcotics laws in 2009.

Many of the changes, including forced rehabilitation for drug users, have been controversial.

But the co-owner of the Sivana Bali rehabilitation centre, Nev Doidge, says it also means the country has become more accepting of specialised clinics where drug users can get help.

The Sivana clinic opened two years ago and has treated 140 patients -- almost all of them, he says, Australian.

"But the change here in support for rehabilitation has been huge in Indonesia. There's been a big shift in things in the past few years around that kind of thing."

Nadine Winter is the clinic's program director.

She says, for clients, returning home will bring new challenges.

"You know, the rehabilitation back to home is really important. It's a big part of what we do here is teaching people how they're going to manage their lives once they go home."

But Chanel and Mitch say the rehabilitation program has changed their lives.

"I feel at peace. I feel calm. I feel happy. I wake up in the morning, and I'm just like, 'Yea,' you know, 'another day!' Whereas I didn't even want to wake up for the days, really, before I got here. I just didn't even want to face the days. Whereas, now, I'm getting up, and I'm loving the days. So I'm feeling really good."

 

 

 

 


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3 min read
Published 29 May 2017 8:00pm
Updated 30 May 2017 8:44am


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