Empowering drug addicts in a Malaysian rehabilitation centre: Towards a lasting individual and society wellbeing

Malaysia is one of the many countries in the world not sparred of the drug abuse problem. Several institutional and non-institutional treatment and rehabilitation programmes are carried out in the country to combat drug addiction. The article discusses the experiences of drug taking amongst the inmates of a female drug rehabilitation centre, the rehabilitation programmes offered for them, and how the inmates themselves underwent drug rehabilitation programmes. A total of 100 female inmates was randomly selected and interviewed using a set of questionnaires. Fourteen inmates were further involved in in-depth interviews. The research found that the effectiveness of the rehabilitation programmes depended more on the inmates’ personal acceptance of the programs and the satisfaction they derived from them than on their positive relationships with the general and professional staff of the centre. Their acceptance of, and satisfaction with the programmes were shown through their level of happiness and interest when undergoing several rehabilitation programmes. Many of the programmes were beneficial in terms of imparting specific knowledge, training and skills to the inmates while they were under detention, besides enabling them to reflect positively on their lives after release. However, the long term effectiveness of the rehabilitation programmes in combating drug addiction remained an issue. Although for many inmates the rehabilitation programmes seemed useful while they were at the centre their individual experiences of such programmes could never guarantee that they would be able to resist relapsing into drug abuse after being released from the centre.