Rehab center in Turkey treats addicts without medicine

By Hakan Firik

BALIKESIR, Turkey (AA) – Drug addicts are being treated and led back to normal life without using any medication, at a rehabilitation center in Turkey’s northwestern Balikesir province.

Situated in the scenic environs of Kaz Mountains in Balikesir province in Turkey's northwest, the center engages addicts in sports, brain exercises and counselling sessions to detoxificate their bodies, Ufuk Tanay Tezemir, head of Ankara-based Kurtulus Foundation told Anadolu Agency.

The Foundation has set up the rehabilitation center in Balikesir, which is fast turning an epicenter of health tourism, due to its natural beauty and climate.

“We are proud to reintroduce 84 out of 100 people, on an average to the society every year, after their successful treatment,” Tezemir said.

The addicts spend three to four month of their rehabilitation period in the facility set up, near Balikesir’s Kaz Mountains, under the project titled “Rehabilitation Program without Medicine (Narconon)”.

Tezemir claimed that it was the only center in Turkey running the Narconon program.

“Our friends stay in our boarding lodge, for a certain period of time, till they reorganize worth of their lives, importance of their families and turn beneficial to the society.”

Trainer Ozkan Guven said Narconon is in practice for over past 50 years in 48 countries.

“We actually counsel addicts in the facility, to stop using drugs. They actually stop taking them in a week,” said the trainer.

Among the tools used to detoxificate bodies of addicts included introducing them to sauna therapy. A sauna is a room in which people relax in dry heat. The treatment besides relaxing them, improves cardiovascular health.

“The next most important part is a 65 days of training, to attend to the inner feelings and thoughts of addicts. That actually leads and helps them to fully adapt to the present life,” he added.

Guven stressed that Narconon program prioritizes the person to regain self-esteem.

*Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur