THERE is a need to reconcile the two laws, Republic Act 91065 or Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act and RA 11036 or Philippine Mental Health Law, in treating individuals suffering from drug addiction, a mental health advocate said.

Kirby Loberiza, business development manager of New Day Recovery Center, said RA 11036 defines addiction or substance use disorder (SUD) as a “primary chronic relapsing disease of brain reward, motivation, memory, and related circuitry”, while RA 9165 considers those individuals suffering from this disease as criminals.

“Kailangan i-reconcile kasi it creates a lot of confusion na one law is recognizing that these people with substance use disorder are just suffering from a disease and yet there is this RA 9165 na parang harsh naman yong treatment sa mga drug addict which considers them as criminals,” Loberiza said.

“I hope this would not be political because really, we support the efforts of Duterte administration in terms of drug demand reduction because we have to look at this two-way. There is drug supply and drug demand. Now the effort of Philippine National Police (PNP) is to reduce the supply kasi kung walang supply then walang demand,” he added.

The lawmakers, he said, must iron this out and “just consider drug addiction as a disease” to help those suffering from this to get appropriate treatment and support to manage their addiction.

The number of clients who avail of their services at the rehabilitation center has decreased because of the government’s intensified crackdown on illegal drug traders and users where some were afraid to come forward.

“We do not lose this strength and the effort to reach out to these people who we know really need the help of the center and other centers like us,” he added.

It can’t be denied though that undergoing treatment for drug addiction could be costly especially in their center as the patient has to go through six months of treatment but he said they are making efforts to make the pricing more affordable especially for indigents.

With the installation of treatment and rehabilitation centers, marginalized individuals must be prioritized as the services are offered for limited slots only.

He also suggested that a social worker be employed at every TRC so that there would be someone who would assess if the patient can afford the treatment to ensure that only indigent patients will be given slots in a government TRC facility.