Australian ice addicts head to rehab in Thailand

Aik TC SG

Australian Broadcasting Corporation 22/04/2015 Ruby Jones

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: You've probably heard of people heading overseas for cheap cosmetic surgery or dental work that costs a fraction of what you'd pay in Australia. It's known as medical tourism. But the latest treatment being combined with travel is giving an insight into the nation's growing problem with the highly addictive drug ice. Rising numbers of Australian methamphetamine users are travelling to rehabilitation centres in Thailand to beat their habit. The so-called rehab resorts offer budget price treatment far away from the possible temptations at home. Ruby Jones visited one of those centres.

RUBY JONES, REPORTER: A growing number of Australians hope this paradise will end their personal hell.

Ryan was on the brink when he arrived in Thailand seven months ago.

RYAN, RECOVERING METHAMPHETAMINE ADDICT: It just got to the point where my life had no meaning. I had no girlfriend, I had no job and I felt worthless. And I knew it was all because of my addiction.

RUBY JONES: Ryan first tried methamphetamine at 13. Within two years, he was injecting the drug.

RYAN: The first time I injected was - it was definitely unmanageable from that time. I knew that was what I wanted to do.

RUBY JONES: He dropped out of school to work full-time to fund his habit and spent more than a decade on ice, taking the drug three or four times a week.

RYAN: Being confronted with anything was overwhelming for me. If my parents tried to question me on my drug use, I basically made them scared of me to the point where they didn't question me anymore.

RUBY JONES: Eventually, an overdose led him to seek help overseas. He's not alone. Rehabilitation centres in Thailand say they are seeing increasing numbers of young Australian ice addicts claiming there's a lack of options in Australia and what is available is too expensive.

ALASTAIR MORDEY, PROGRAM DIRECTOR, CABIN CHIANG MAI: I think the Australian meth epidemic is equal to that of the States and the worst-affected countries in the Asia Pacific Rim. It's probably within the top three or four rising and serious methamphetamine epidemics in the world today.

RUBY JONES: The centre measures success when a client stops abusing drugs and alcohol permanently without a relapse. It claims about 40 per cent of its clients achieve that goal.

Ryan counts himself among the recovered, but he doesn't look too far ahead.

RYAN: To be honest, my plans are just to get through today clean at the moment. I'm trying not to look into the future too much. I'm currently studying Thai here in Thailand. Um, future plans are undecided. I'm just taking it one day at a time.

RUBY JONES: Alastair Mordey says more than half of the centre's 50 clients are Australian.

ALASTAIR MORDEY: Alcohol and prescription drugs in particular were what we were seeing maybe five years ago from Australian clients, predominantly alcohol, sometimes mixed with prescription drugs. Now that's changed. Methamphetamine is definitely the number one.

RUBY JONES: Many have made multiple unsuccessful attempts to quit at home.

RYAN: Instead of injecting methamphetamines, I'd switch to Epsom salts just so I could still inject but not have any of the consequences. Also I'd try to manage my time between using - use on one weekend and then also - and then once I used on one weekend, try and have a weekend off and just try and keep building the time up. But soon realised that that just never happened. Part of the reason for me coming to this country was to get out of Australia because I don't know how to score drugs in another country.

RUBY JONES: The cabin uses a 12-step recovery program where addiction is treated as an illness and addicts are given the help of a sponsor. The centre also uses the South-East Asian Buddhist principle of mindfulness in its treatment and cognitive behaviour therapy. It says intensive group counselling with therapists who are ex-addicts themselves is integral to the program.

ALASTAIR MORDEY: Focuses much more on recovering addicts running their own treatment together. It's peer-led. And something that the addict needs to be able to understand the tools of recovery so they can go out and use them on their own.

RUBY JONES: For Ryan, the road to recovery wasn't easy.

RYAN: Well the first four days I kept having panic attacks. I never used to think I could be satisfied with normal things without using. But life is definitely better without using.