400 DRUG USERS TO 'GRADUATE' FROM REHAB CENTER

MAGALANG -- A total of 400 more drug dependents will "graduate" on March 16
from a six-month treatment at the Central Luzon Regional Drug
Rehabilitation Center (CLRDRC) in this Pampanga town.

Sr. Supt. Conrado Briton, CLRDRC director, said that at least 465 other
drug dependents have graduated from the center since it was established
three years ago.

Most of those who have undergone rehabilitation at the center were from
Bulacan. The rest came from Pampanga and Nueva Ecija.

Briton said that about 40 percent of the graduates have pursued their
studies in some colleges and universities and about 45 percent have already
been employed in different industrial firms at the Mariveles Economic Zone
in Bataan, Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga and Subic Bay Freeport
in Zambales.

All former drug dependents rehabilitated at the center were being placed
under the police after-care program in which their activities were being
monitored, in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and
Development in Central Luzon under regional director Flor Villar and all
local government units (LGUs) in the region.

Only very few former drug dependents who have been monitored to have
returned to illegal drug using have been committed at the center for
further rehabilitation, according to Briton.

Briton commended Gov. Lito Lapid for releasing P2 million for the
construction of another building at CLRDRC.

Most of the patients at the center belong to poor families who cannot
afford to send their drug dependents to private rehabilitation centers.