MANGALDAN — A workshop type of counseling for 24 drug users who previously surrendered to the police has been going on quietly since past mid-September at the Hidden Rock Farm Resort in Barangay Tebag here.

An initiative of the Descendants Ministry International to show that there is life after drugs, if one does not lose his or her faith in God, started last September 17.

It requires participants to attend sessions three times a week (comprising two hours per session) till December this year, said Lemton Agricola, a Filipino-American from Hawaii, who shares his experiences as a reformed drug addict wherever he speaks.

Agricola, 61, confessed he was into drugs since he was 11 years old and spent 15 years in jail. His two and a half years of rehabilitation at Habitat, a drug rehabilitation center in Honululu made him a changed man.

He was a vital cog in reforming drug users in Alaminos and Dagupan City and was asked to lend a hand in this effort in Bauang, La Union and Tarlac City.

More than 300 drug users and pushers in Mangaldan surrendered to the police since July 1, but only 82 initially manifested to join the program. This was reduced to 40, then finally 24, comprising men and women from different villages.

According to Agricola, the participants had been into drugs from two years to 24 years. One participant is a drug pusher on the police watch list and the rest are plain users.

Zeny Junto, owner of Hidden Rock Farm Resort and also a member of the Church, has allowed free use of her place as the venue for the counseling.

The sessions are held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., allowing participants enough time to interact and relate to each other, bound by the same zeal and spirit to wean away from the vice.

Participants say Agricola, being a former drug user, gives the most heart-rending lectures on a person’s transformation, always reminding them of the need to put God in the center of everything.

The workshop stresses the core principles of self respect, honesty and thoughts about being ” Better to understand than be understood,” “You are your brother’s keeper” , ” You can keep it unless you give it away” ,”Nothing is constant but change” and others.

After some few sessions, some of the drug users have already shown remarkable improvements, among them two brothers who used to bully and maul people when high on drugs. They became respectful to everyone and started to ask people they have wronged for forgiveness.

Even policemen who regularly monitor all surrendered drug users in their homes were amazed at the fast attitudinal transformation of the two brothers.

There is also this tricycle driver who earned lavish praises from his lady passenger when he took the trouble looking for her when she left her wallet in his vehicle.

The most significant achievement noted was the day nobody was found positive of illegal drugs when they took drug tests on October 27 under the supervision of personnel of the Municipal Health Office and the police.

Agricola said everyone who attends the program are put on regular drug tests, all at the expense of the Church.

With wife Vinj Llamas, he came to the Philippines in 1991 and made Alaminos City their home. (Leonardo Micua)

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