What does the state do to eradicate drug addiction as a public health problem?

Julieta Sagnay, psychiatrist specialized in drug addiction.

Beyond decriminalizing the drug consumption, according to a chart of permissibility established by the government, and the intention to toughen penalties and establish preventive detention for suspects of micro-trafficking, drug use is a public health problem that is not properly treated in the country.

In an interview with Contacto Directo, broadcast by Ecuavisa, Julieta Sagnay, a psychiatrist specialized in drug addiction and director of the Clinic of Behavior in Guayaquil talks about what is currently happening, “teenagers, even children 7 years old are being withdrawn by their parents from schools and they are confined indoors, but the dealer, the pusher which is still free looks for ways to deliver them the drugs home.”

“The consumer becomes a seller too in order to administer himself the dose needed to relieve the withdrawal symptoms produced by the drug.”

When asked about access to public health by drug addicts in the country, Sagnay indicated that not all professionals are trained to handle the withdrawal syndrome of the “H”, a new drug which contains 40% of heroin and 60% of toxic substances to the brain.

Sagnay proposes opening real detoxification centers where brief therapies such as the Minnesota program, of 28 days, in which children can be reinserted in the education system and society and not be confined to a center. There must b professionals trained in the handling of abstention of this new drug (H), since children can die in the attempt.

Currently consumption is penalized but this does not happen with the distribution and sale, according to Sagnay, the addict can not be discriminated because he/she is a person who is ill. “Assembly members should know one thing, the brain of an addict does not have a scale that allows him to decide on a permitted or not permitted dose, the addict will stop his consumption until the money runs out or until he dies.”