On Friday 24 June I had the pleasure of attending the graduation of 15 youngsters who had completed the San Blas drug rehabilitation programme with flying colours.
To begin with, the ceremony was a moving one, especially when the youngsters themselves, who had been drug addicts, told of how they had fallen into the drug trap but were now on their way to leading a full and normal life – a life without drugs.
The highlight of the evening was when Mgr Victor Grech spoke a few words from the heart – but a few words that held the audience mesmerised. There is no doubt that the drug addicts who searched for a “new look” found their faith lifted in San Blas and Santa Marija, as there is no doubt that all one has to do when one is in the dark is follow the Son.
Mgr Grech came out with various proposals to which, I hope, Justice Minister Tonio Borg, who was present at the ceremony, will give serious consideration. Mgr Grech insisted that a special unit should be introduced at the corrective facility at Kordin so that not all inmates with different crimes are placed in the same area.
A special unit should be built for drug users in which addicts can begin their drug rehabilitation programme with a follow up in a residential rehabilitation centre like San Blas or Santa Marija. This idea was not a spur of the moment decision on the part of Mgr Grech, but one he has been proposing for years. Unfortunately, it has always fallen on deaf ears.
Mgr Grech said how unfair it was that drug addicts who had been drug-free for years after successfully completing the rehabilitation programme were thrown into prison again for a criminal act committed years before – the repercussions being that they could become drug users again, filled with animosity against the judiciary system which had failed them so miserably.
He also spoke about a rapid drugs court system, where a drug addict did not have to wait years for a prison sentence – the consequences being that he could further indulge in heroin, cocaine or marijuana – but would be sentenced rapidly so that his “punishment” and “reform” would not be delayed.
Again, this is something Mgr Grech has been harping on about for years, for the sake of all those drug addicts who gave the devil called heroin or cocaine an inch and they became their rulers. Again, Mgr Grech deserved a standing ovation for the way he spoke about the arrest referral scheme where, if a person admitted in front of the police that he used drugs, he would not be put on probation or sent to jail but referred to one of the agencies for dealing with drug users, such as San Blas or Santa Marija (Sedqa).
When the ceremony came to an end it was obvious that many people made their way home with no second thoughts about what they had heard and seen. I appeal to the Prime Minister and the Justice Minister to intervene, for the common good of the drug addict.
May the good Lord bless you, Mgr Grech.
Valerie Borg
VALLETTA