Tue Jan 07 05:15:58 UTC 2025: ## Myanmar’s “House of Love” Offers Tough-Love Rehab for Drug Addicts Amidst National Crisis
**Yangon, Myanmar —** A unique drug rehabilitation center in Yangon, Myanmar, is employing a rigorous, physically demanding program to combat the country’s escalating drug addiction crisis. Metta Saneain, or “House of Love,” utilizes a daily routine that includes weightlifting, karate, dancing, and Buddhist prayer for its more than 100 shaven-headed patients.
The center’s unconventional approach, involving intense physical activity, is operating against a backdrop of national turmoil. Myanmar, already a major narcotics producer, is now the world’s largest opium producer and a key source of methamphetamine following the 2021 military coup. The resulting economic chaos has fueled the drug problem, with easy access to drugs in major cities like Yangon.
One former patient, a 32-year-old doctor who had lost everything to meth addiction, credits the center’s demanding regimen with his recovery. He now volunteers at Metta Saneain, hoping to pursue a degree in applied psychology.
While the center’s tough-love approach has shown short-term success, experts like Angkoon Phattarakorn from Thailand’s Princess Mother National Institute on Drug Abuse Treatment, caution that such methods need to be tailored to individual needs and may not be effective long-term due to widespread drug availability. The center, which charges patients’ families between 400,000 and 1 million Myanmar kyat, has reportedly rehabilitated over 200 individuals in the past year. Despite the positive stories of recovery, the ongoing conflict and pervasive drug trade pose significant challenges to lasting success.
First Piper 