I am interested to know what country you are from, and if that country considers drug addiction to be a social problem, or a disease. Please note also if your country has standardized health insurance.

Thanks!

im a tussico from italy and in naples theres no na meetings or wasnt as of 2000.

its considered a social problem.

theres not 1 rehab in southern italy, u have to go up north.

pretty sad actually.

it may have changed since i havent lived there since 2000. jes78

I know less than nothing about drug use/abuse/recovery in other countries, other than England provides registered heroin addicts legal drugs so they don't have to go score on the street, get ripped off, or commit a crime to get their "medicine."

Personally, I think that's pretty civilized.

And, it cuts down on crime considerably, I would think.

There is a huge problem with Meth (or P-for Pure, as its called here) in New Zealand. There is a comprehensive number of rehabs both private and government funded. I think though that its widely only recognised as a social problem rather than a disease. Meth is still a relatively new drug in my country, since 2000 really, but it has become a huge problem. I am a recovering addict, my brother is an addict and my father is in jail for manufacture

Im in Australia.

South Australia is considered the drug captial of Australia, Ive heard addicts and dealers say......it's all happenin in SA. (more lenient drug laws maybe...I dont know)

Meth addiction is on the increase here, with addicts as young as 14 being admitted to hospitals and re-hab centres.

It is considered a social problem, that later develops into an addiction that some will call a "disease".

Some of our rave parties have testing units where kids can have their ecstasy and other pills tested for pureness before ingesting.... I suppose they figure, kids are gonna do it anyway, so if theyre gonna experiment, lets make it safer for them.

We also had a nightclub called RECOVERY that opened in the early hours of the morning, for people who were coming down from a high and needed a place to unwind in safe surroundings, rather than on the street. It was a fully-equipped bar, with alcohol, just like other bars, but it became known as a "recovery" pad for drug users. Not sure if its still around.

We do have good re-hab and detox centres here and a good medical insurance system called Medicare, which all Australians are entitled to, so even if u dont have private insurance besides Medicare, u will still receive treatment of some kind.

Heroin addicts are offered a Methadone Programme.

Meth users are offered medication to help with depression and severe physical side effects from meth withdrawal. ie headaches, mood swings etc..

Here's an example of our lenient drug laws:

My brother has been caught a few times with meth in his car...never a large enough amount to be considered as a dealer but enough to be a problem...
His punishment was a one hour councelling session with an Anti-Drug Unit.
He sat patiently and courteously through the session, put on a happy face for the dear old councellor and was back on the street that afternoon.

I am from the Middle East but currently live in California.

Addiction in IRAN is not considered a DISEASE,and it's more

of a social problem. Although, herion is very popular back

home,nobody really talks about it.Their is NO AA/NA

meetings. Back home if your an addict they LOCK you up, and

their is never ever a real TREATMENT. I remember, they

locked up my cousin for two years in a JAIL, and once he

got out, he used AGAIN. The jail was in a MIDDLE OF nowhere.

I hoped this INFO helped a little

I am from Canada.

Our provinces vary on their philosophical model of addiction.
In my area we have the only safe injection site in North America. We are also thinking of giving out free substitute drugs for crystal meth and crack users!

Harm reduction is our motto.

We have standardized health insurance, but you cannot use this to go to treatment. You must pay on your own or be on Welfare or get a government subsidy to get in to a facility.

Where is NA in the World?

Click on the link.