Pubdate: Sun, 08 May 2005
Source: New Straits Times (Malaysia)
Copyright: 2005 NST Online
Contact:  http://www.nst.com.my/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3734
Author: Edith Lim

SYABU-ADDLED BRAIN IS NO FUN

PETALING JAYA, Sat. -- Simon Pok remembers mostly three things from
the last 12 months: smoking syabu, being angry and driving fast.

Archive Since 1991 It was a bad combination, which saw him ramming his
car into drivers who did not get out of his way in the fast lane.
Sometimes he would overtake them instead, and slam on his brakes to
force them to stop.

Angry drivers confronted him, but all backed off when faced with a
screaming, swearing youth in a drug-fuelled rage.

Pok (not his real name) has spent the last two years strung out on
syabu or `ice', as methamphetamine is known on the street here.

His out-of-control rage and violent behaviour are the symptoms of
long-term meth abusers.

They are also known for constantly scratching themselves, the result
of a sensation of insects creeping on the skin.

They can suffer paranoia, auditory hallucinations and mood
disturbances.

Its chemical structure similar to that of parent drug amphetamine,
meth causes increased activity, decreased appetite, and a general
sense of well-being.

Syabu is a smokeable form that first appeared in the US in the
1980s.

In Malaysia, its use has spread among party-goers, who spend between
RM50 and RM80 for a fix, to last one night of clubbing.

Many of them are, like Pok, from well-to-do, educated families. Some
of them are entertainers such as Lily Zarina, 27, better known as
"Baby" of former girl-band Res2, who was fined RM5,000 for drug use
last month.

Increasingly, desperate parents are checking their syabu-hooked
offspring into private rehabilitation centres, such as the Lifezone
Drug Rehabilitation Centre here.

According to Lifezone staff Mark Chee, 50, syabu addiction is on the
rise among the young because the drug is easily available in
discotheques.

Long-term abusers have proven hard to help, he said.

"Those on `ice' for more than a year we cannot counsel at the centre;
we refer them for psychiatric help because the drug has
over-stimulated their minds."

Changing abusers' behaviour is key to rehabilitation, said Sam
Krishnan, co-ordinator of the Community Excel Services Drug
Rehabilitation Centre, also located here.

The centre focuses on character building and discipline for the
"brothers", which is how centre staff address their voluntary inmates.

"Brothers are kept busy with work therapy like gardening, cleaning the
centre and cooking to keep their minds off drugs.

"There are five brothers here, most from middle to upper class
families," Sam said.

Pok had his first taste four years ago, when he was 17. He had bumped
into an old schoolmate, James, who noticed he was depressed.

Pok told him he had broken up with his girlfriend and was hurt and
angry.

His schoolmate told him syabu would make him feel better and brought
him to a cheap hotel in Petaling Jaya where they joined five men who
were smoking syabu.

"I was curious," and they were giving him the first puff for free,
said the five-foot-six, slim and soft-spoken youth.

It did nothing for him, but he took to hanging out with James and his
friends after classes and on weekends. At the time, Pok was studying
engineering in a private college here.

By the time he was 19, he was hooked. He dropped out of college, and
was spending half his RM2,000 monthly allowance on syabu.

At first, his parents did not seem to notice his addiction. Syabu
smoke is odourless, and leaves a residue that can be re-smoked.

Eventually, they knew, when his personality began to change. He was
"like another person", angry, not interested in anything.

By now, he was smoking it all the time with his friends, and one day
he was arrested for being a drug pusher after selling 4.8g of syabu
for RM600.

The quantity would have been enough for two people to smoke for a
week.

It was a bad time for him. "I was going through withdrawal symptoms in
the lock-up, and I could not sleep for 24 hours."

Still, his habit continued.

Once, he went without sleep for three days after smoking syabu for 24
hours straight. He cleaned his room over and over, and was obsessed
with making more of the apparatus to smoke syabu, drilling holes into
bottle after bottle.

"I made 20 `ice' bottles in a day. I needed only one to smoke," he
said. His brain felt as though "it was about to explode".

When the drug's effects wore off after 72 hours, he slept for three
days.

"I felt low because I smoked so much and I had no purpose in
life.

"I felt frustrated and angry because of what the drug did to
me."

These times made him want to take to the road, and terrorise other
drivers.

"I could not feel high. I got sick of it, I wanted to quit. I felt
guilty because my parents have always loved me and I disappointed them."

His attempts to quit on his own failed, as his friends were just a
phone call away and could get a stash to him in 30 minutes.

Finally, his parents managed to get him to quit. His mother especially
had never lost her faith in him.

He checked into a rehab centre a month ago, and his life has gained
some semblance of normalcy since.

The first 10 days were the hardest, and he is tired and feels
"blurred" most of the time, but he believes he has got over the worst. 
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MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFLorida)