Manila gov’t rescues children addicted to solvents

It has become a common sight in Manila: street urchins with dingy eyes, inhaling compact solvents in plastic bags, even near the city’s police stations. On Monday night, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim ordered massive rescue operations for these children addicted to inhalants. “The priority for rescue are the minors whom we see loitering the city streets and sniffing Rugby from a plastic bag," Lim said, about the city government’s renewed campaign against drug addiction, which destroyed the lives of at least 6.7 million Filipinos, based on the 2004 data from the National Statistics Office’s National Household Survey. The operation, which started about 8 p.m., was led by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Manila and the National Capital Region. Celerina F. Sangil, head of the DSWD in Manila, said the rescued minors would stay and be treated at the agency’s reception and action center. Meanwhile, the PDEA will be responsible for adult substance users. Those who are not residents of Manila and who do not have families will be turned over to the Jose Fabella Center of the DSWD. Also, representatives from the National Center for Mental Health joined the operation to examine rescued substance abusers who are having mental problems. Substance abuse in the Philippines is rampant, especially in poor urban communities. Once abusers become “high" on drugs, they forget about the agonizing hunger they endure for days. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “the effects of inhalants usually last only a few minutes, unless users inhale repeatedly." “At first, inhalants have a stimulating effect. Then if the users keep inhaling, they may feel dazed, dizzy, and have trouble walking. Sometimes users get aggressive or think they see things that are not there. Stronger chemicals or repeated inhaling can cause people to pass out. A user can also die suddenly from using inhalants," it added. Dr Irma Makalinao, of the University of the Philippines, noted in her study that “it was difficult to estimate solvent abuse in the Philippines among children and adolescents." But Makalinao said that data from the Dangerous Drugs Board and the Poison Control Unit, showed that 84.4 percent of drug addicts in the country inhale methamphetamine, while 3.38 percent use inhalants. She said previous research on drug addiction did not include samples of street children, “who are at the highest risk of inhalant use and abuse." Makalinao quoted a Unicef data showing that there are 75,000 to 80,000 street children in the Philippines. The incidence increases by 6,365 yearly according to the Unicef. But Makalinao said non-government organizations estimated that population of street children had already reached 1.5 million. - GMANews.TV