Addiction Rehabilitation Centre in Smoluća Marks 20 Years: 800 People Sought Help

(Patria) - The Public Institution Centre for Rehabilitation of Psychoactive Substance Addicts (JU CROPS) is marking two decades since its founding this year, with developed programmes, capacities, staff and infrastructure.

The Centre in Smoluća was founded by the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2004, and since 2013, part of the founding rights were taken over by the Government of Tuzla Canton, and today it is integrated within the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of the Government of Tuzla Canton.

The Centre was established and began operations thanks to the enthusiasm of a large number of people who intended to help families and their loved ones with addiction illness.

"During this period, there were difficulties, but also a lot of work and dedication, primarily from employees, but also from institutions that supported this project. Today, this institution has developed programmes, capacities, staff and infrastructure to adequately respond to new challenges, but also to provide assistance with a capacity of 20 users. Likewise, prevention, counselling and resocialisation programmes have been developed, i.e., to monitor the recovery and condition of users even after the programme is completed," stated CROPS.

The Islamic Community was the first and only one to recognise the need for such an institution as early as 20 years ago.

"From then until today, the Islamic Community has strongly supported this project, which is why it continues successfully, and the very mission of the Community, and thus of this centre, is to help people, to prevent evil and promote good. The plan and programme of this institution is successful rehabilitation and healthy lifestyles, return to the family, a completely healthy personality, and becoming a useful member of the family and the wider social community. Unfortunately, the need for this centre was great then, but it is even greater now. This is supported by the fact that we have more requests from our users than the institution's capacity," emphasised CROPS.

On the occasion of this significant jubilee, they particularly highlighted the importance of the existence and operation of this specialised institution.

"Saving a human life is a great thing, as the Qur'an says: 'Whoever saves one human life, it is as if he has saved all of humanity.' So far, more than 600 users have received our help and stayed for treatment, and according to our registry, there have been more than 800 admissions. Numbers are important, but human lives are even more important, and every person is a world, let us save that world. And many testimonies from our users and their parents and families are the best proof that this centre has justified its existence and the vision of its founders. Hundreds of people have been saved and returned to their families," they stated.

They also spoke about plans for the centre's development in the upcoming period.

"Last year, we developed a Development Strategy for this centre with a professional team of experts in the field of combating addiction, which was adopted by the Government and Assembly of Tuzla Canton. In short, it involves legal, material and staff strengthening of our capacities, but also the need to open a women's department and a programme for admitting gambling addicts, i.e., behavioural addictions. The strategy was created for the period 2024-2028. The strategy is our need and vision that our founders should support and implement together," they explained.

This significant anniversary of CROPS will be marked by numerous activities.

Some activities have already been carried out in the past period, such as an exhibition of users' works, a visit by representatives of the Institute for Diseases and Addictions Zenica, and a visit by the cultural and educational centre "Lalek" to this centre.

"Twenty years of work is truly worth mentioning and remembering the people, stories, events, projects and lives of people connected to this centre. In the coming month, we want to mark the jubilee of this centre's work with several activities, and this Plan was also adopted at the session of the institution's Management Board," said CROPS.

The most important activity is the organisation of a scientific conference "Integrative Approaches in the Prevention and Treatment of Addiction - Spiritual, Health and Social Aspects," which will be held in Lukavac on 19 September.

"We also plan to hold 'Open Days of the Centre' with rich cultural content and gatherings of former users and friends of the Centre. Given that the blessed days of the month of Rabi' al-Awwal are approaching, on that occasion we will organise a Mawlid celebration together with the Puračić Majlis. We organise all these activities with the intention of drawing attention to the increasingly present problem of addiction in society and that this centre was and remains dedicated to the idea of saving people, families and the lives of young people from the hell of addiction," CROPS stated.