Rakovski against drugs

There are over 30,000 drug addicts in Bulgaria. The reasons that forced them into drugs are various, and unfortunately many of them will never succeed in freeing themselves from this dependence. The State, for its part, does not provide many opportunities for treatment: there are specialized psychiatric clinics and those that use the methadone method, but there are few therapeutic communities for the rehabilitation of drug addicts and the results in terms of recovery are meagre. The most used substance remains heroine, followed by cocaine. According to the report of the national centre for drugs in Sofia, many of these Bulgarian drug addicts are infected with hepatitis C and some with Aids. Crimes linked to drug trafficking also increased in 2006. In this situation many people in civil society and in the Church are wondering what best can be done. They include the volunteers of Caritas in Rakovski, a town in the region of Plovdiv east of the capital, nicknamed “the little Beijing” because the main means of transport is the bicycle. This is their story, as recorded by the correspondent of SirEurope, Iva Mihalova. “YES TO LIFE, NO TO DRUGS!”. That’s the slogan of the project that a group of volunteers of Caritas in Rakovski, most of them Catholics, have promoted to give a response to the scourge of drugs. It all began with a survey in local schools from which it emerged that 46.12% of children think that drugs and alcohol abuse are the greatest problems of youth. 15% say they have friends who have taken drugs. These alarming data induced the local Catholic Church, Caritas, the municipal authorities and the police to begin a series of initiatives aimed at raising public awareness of the problem. Various talks were given by experts in schools to explain the phenomenon of drugs, and the dangers they pose. The fact is that most people are ignorant of the problem, also because there were very few drug addicts in Bulgaria before the collapse of Communism. A campaign was also conducted in the media to raise the awareness of other sections of society. A team of psychologists, social workers and catechists was set up to help anyone in need. A competition was also held in schools for the best story, drawing or poem on such themes as “Yes to life”, “No to drugs”, “Why do people begin?” and “Where do they end up?”. In collaboration with the police, a series of educational games was devised: “Profession policeman and the war on drugs”, “Giving first aid to a drug addict friend”, and “Helping the security forces to arrest drug traffickers”. Children are taught how to distinguish the various types of drugs. NECESSARY SYNERGIES. The Rakovski project was also an excellent occasion to launch collaboration between NGOs, municipality, police and Catholic Church, as explained to SIR by the head of the Caritas project Rosiza Peeva. “Major problems like drugs can only be tackled by uniting everyone’s forces, also involving families where children need to receive the affection and attention they crave instead of seeking it in drug abuse”. According to the Caritas expert, Bulgarian society is “a young democracy that was unprepared for these complex phenomena, but slowly, by following also the good practices of other Western countries, it will be possible to achieve better results, especially in terms of prevention”. IN THE PARISH. The culmination of the project was the final event held on the stage of the “Mons. Ivan Romanov” Pastoral Centre of Sekirovo on 30 June. After a day of bicycle races, the children prepared sketches inspired by the satirical Italian TV show “Striscia la notizia” jokingly denouncing the immobility of the mayor and the town council, allegedly guilty of encouraging the alienation of the young. “We wished to demonstrate to everyone and especially to the young – declared the parish priest of Sekirovo, Father Rumen Stanev – that there are many alternatives to drugs and that one of these is sport. Drugs are a complex problem, because everything may be transformed into drugs: power, money… No one begins to take drugs because he has nothing to do or out of mere curiosity, but because he feels around him a lack of affection, a sense of insecurity, and fear to tackle the problems of everyday life”. To help children avoid taking the wrong directions in life, Father Rumen Stanev tries to offer them better opportunities in terms of parish facilities, such as youth club, catechesis, excursions and youth meetings. Recently he even opened a gym in the parish centre. But the problems are daunting: unemployment, the lack of prospects for the future, the fact that many parents are working abroad, but Father don Stanev never ceases to encourage the young because “there will always be problems but with Jesus Christ we have an added security to overcome them and go forwards together”.