
The first time I heard of the Opium Pipe Monastery in Thailand I naively thought it must be something like the opium dens of the movies, full of deranged acolytes seeking some sort of drug induced spirituality. Wrong. In fact, I could not have been any further off base. It turns out the Opium Pipe Monastery is more of a slang name given by the backpacking budget travelers of Bangkok’s often traveled Khao San Road to a Buddhist temple complex that is properly named Wat Thamkrabok . Wat Thamkrabok, located about 100 miles north of Bangkok, got this moniker because of the unique treatment approach offered here specializing in opioid addiction although they also accept those battling problems with other drugs and alcohol.
I found a dated and in my opinion exaggerated account of the treatment explained in a UK Guardian article about Pete Doherty, a famed British rocker and infamous heroin addict.
He then got a place at the world's toughest clinic, the Thamkrabok monastery in Thailand, with the help of the actress June Brown, alias Dot Cotton in EastEnders, whose godson, Tim, has been hooked on crack. There he faced a pitiless regime, including beatings with a bamboo cane and being forced to drink a black concoction of vile herbs that made him vomit throughout the day to rid his body of impurities. Gordon Baltimore, a former US Marine who runs the remote 784-acre centre, told one newspaper: 'For 30 days the patient is nothing but a robot. We push the button to decide when he eats and when he sleeps. Once someone starts his programme, the only way he can quit is when he's dead. The method of punishment is the bamboo stick.' Hardened heroin, opium and crack addicts can be heard wailing in pain at the clinic. They are made to sing the Thai national anthem every day, and tapes of chanting by Buddhist monks are piped through to their cells every night. They endure a diet of rice and water. Once a patient has overcome his addiction, he must sign a vow never to take drugs again. Doherty bolted before dawn on Day Three of his 10-day detox treatment and returned home…Notice in the story it suggests that Mr. Baltimore runs the place, I think the writer here is just a little confused because Gordon is about the only one of the monks who associates freely with guests and speaks fluent English. Also, while conditions are rather harsh, the comment about the bamboo stick torture and no escape but death is patently false and even belied in the same story by Doherty’s early departure from treatment. Rest assured though, treatment at Wat Thamkrabok is no cakewalk.
I am getting a little long-winded here though, so I suggest if you would like to learn more about Wat Thamkrabok you should go to their website here.It has some great pictures, really spells out the detoxification process in detail, and even gives instructions and directions for obtaining treatment. The site could be better designed… so make sure you look for the links at the bottom when you are navigating through the site, there are three main sections.
2 comments:
Hey thanks for this! I found you via Mary's (I think) ... and I've had people go on at me to go in this place so I'm glad I got their url without a load of Google-induced flotsam clogging up my brains along the way, know what I mean. I'm going to put their link on mine as well.
Take care
Gleds
Amazing. I would love to visit places like this. Places like the Opium Pipe Monastery make me really wonder why I stay in Scotland when I can be out discovering places like that.
TheJunky'sWife - I found your blog after a comment on my website, and I'm glad you commented. I've read through a few of your posts, and have really identified with them so far. I don't talk about my personal life on the internet, but I thank you for being so honest.
I look forward to reading through the rest of your blog, and to your future posts.
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