The day her son beat her for the second time, she decided to follow him. Things weren’t right. It was time to face what she knew but refused to acknowledge. She chased him, her eye black and blood still in her mouth, through the dirty streets of the Las Tunas neighborhood, where she found boys like him, lying around, alienated, disheveled, almost children.
She saw him knock on a worn door, hand over money for the small bundle he stuffed into the threadbare socks that were now his best clothing, and leave in a hurry. She couldn’t follow him anymore. She sat down to cry on the sidewalk, near a fetid corner, inconsolable. It took her a while, maybe a couple of hours, to react and do the only thing she considered possible: report it.
Then, that mother—the same one who silently forgave the beatings, who watched him fall despite his pleas, who one day put her own body between them to stop the neighbors from lynching him—went into a police station and told everything; because he didn’t understand, but he was her son, and he needed to be freed, from himself.
She knows her story isn’t unique; that’s why, when we met her, she was asking around for other parents in her situation, people trying to help their relatives off drugs who don’t want to quit, or don’t know how, can’t, don’t understand… God knows what.
She wanted to create a support group that would gradually break the silence. Because she feels that the families of drug addicts are very alone, and although there are many channels for dialogue and collaboration, they aren’t always effective. They need truly active mechanisms, real support, open pathways without too much delay… light.
She has spoken with 26 other families, and they all repeat the same litany, typical of those ruminating on the pain and colossal helplessness of feeling unprotected. Because, often, it takes a public scandal, a report of a beating, evidence of a heinous robbery, among other similar tragedies, for the authorities to intervene in such a situation of habitual drug use.
With the interest of delving deeper into these approaches and realities, we met with Juana Yamilka Viñals Suárez, vice-governor and president of the Provincial Subgroup for the Prevention of Drug Abuse in Las Tunas. She made it clear in our conversation that they understand the enormous burden a family faces when one of its members falls into the clutches of this evil and refuses treatment. She assured them that families are not alone, although the decision to accept help rests with the individual, because there are support and guidance mechanisms that can make all the difference.
“Families must protect themselves, and to do so, it is necessary to establish clear boundaries and seek guidance from support groups or specialized professionals. They can contact our agencies for advice on how to manage this situation (FMC, CDR, Prosecutor’s Office, Ombudsman’s Office, as well as the social worker in each community) and learn about available resources.
“Our commitment is to support them, provide information, and facilitate access to specialized services, because we know that the fight against drugs is won through prevention, treatment, and family support.”
However, the director confirmed to our team that no law or resolution obligates the patient to receive medical attention, and, she said, they focus on maintaining follow-up through Mental Health services, via mass organizations, community leaders, clinics, and a whole network that the Subgroup leads with the support of the Prosecutor’s Office and the medical team.
“The care ladder is structured starting with Primary Health Care, where the family doctor and Mental Health teams play a fundamental role, as they are the ones who best understand the characteristics and needs of the community.”
“Our commitment is to support them, provide information, and facilitate access to specialized services, because we know the community’s characteristics and needs best.” “This work is complemented by the efforts of mass organizations, such as the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR in Spanish) and the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC in Spanish), which are key to prevention, early detection, and support for cases.
“Thanks to this collaboration, we are committed to comprehensive care that combines medical knowledge with the active participation of the community, reinforcing the importance of this model in the fight against this scourge in our country.”
Viñals Suárez elaborates on the value of this mechanism, and while the strength of his arguments is evident, it is also true that it doesn’t always function with the speed and consistency that the current reality demands; this is due both to the instability of its grassroots structures and to the fear of the neighbors themselves, who know that nothing can stop a drug addict when they have an urgent need to use, and they become capable of any recklessness. The issue is, therefore, much more complex than a machine that simply works, with its gaps and successes, like everything else.
Recognizing with the starkest certainty that one needs help to climb out of the abyss is the most difficult decision; that is, that step, the tremendous leap of asking for help, has to come from within each individual for the process to truly begin. No matter how much the family tries to alleviate the situation, it won’t be possible to unblock the machinery of healthcare. Something that, viewed harshly, is cruel and even contradictory.
Dr. Alejandro Mestre Barroso, the province’s leading toxicology specialist, understands this very well. “Experience shows that it is practically impossible to achieve a good result if the processes of withdrawal and detoxification are forced. And it’s happening.
“Many patients come to the clinic due to family pressure, not because they are truly aware of the situation they are in. They are in denial; they tell you that they can handle it, that they have it under control.”
“There are also those who know drugs control them, but they don’t want anyone’s helping hand because they’re afraid of what lies ahead. And taboos like ‘if I ask for help, I’ll get arrested, I’ll get into trouble, I’ll be labeled a snitch in the neighborhood’ come into play, hindering their progress. These are defining factors.”
While all this unfolds in the lives of patients, what resources does their support network have? To what extent are there open pathways for them to find support, learn to manage their attitudes, unravel their symptoms, and guide them on the intense journey of healing?
In Dr. Mestre Barroso’s opinion, the available resources are cumbersome and, although efforts have been made, they still fall short in the face of a social problem far larger than some acknowledge.
“We haven’t managed to raise awareness among the public, or even among decision-makers involved in these efforts; we’re falling behind in crucial areas like providing support to families. They indeed come knocking on our doors asking for help, but they don’t receive it in time or in the way they need.”
Furthermore, in my opinion, the measures taken by the courts against those who commit these types of crimes remain far too lenient. That doesn’t help either, because the damage done to our country by those who traffic in these drugs is enormous.” This is a socialist state governed by the rule of law, which should treasure its youth, and yet they are the ones most affected.”
Other factors also hinder the care provided to those who abuse drugs; for example, the fact that the Clodomira Acosta Psychiatric Hospital has a detoxification ward, but the province lacks a rehabilitation center. There is a regional one in Santiago de Cuba, but its capacity to accept patients is limited. In the case of minors who fall into these addictions, they are treated at the Mártires de Las Tunas Pediatric Hospital, in the Mental Health ward. There, addicts are mixed with those who have presented with depressive episodes or suicide attempts; mixed, as it should be.
While Dr. Alejandro updates 26 on many details, we remember the father with a cane who approached us some time ago in the street. His daughter had hit him, once again, and he had a small list in his hand, written in his own hand, with the names of all the institutions to which he had been asking for support.
He went from the police to the prosecutor’s office, to the courthouse, the health department, the government, and to every place he thought might offer legal support; then he wrote down the name of each person who listened to his pain, like a circle, for each place he was referred to. At the end of the day, he was just an old man with bruises, a cane, a list full of names, and he had to return to the hell of his home… alone.
Meeting him was the primary reason for this report. His story hurts to the core, and the worst part is that there are many more truths like this hidden in the city, burning in silence. Entire homes are devastated by drugs. It’s not enough to treat the patient; we’re not in a time to be active only in matters of prevention and criminal proceedings; drugs exist, they are present, they end, and, not infrequently, their effect is worse on the family member, who sees their loved one dissolving before their eyes, even detached from their own reality.
Right now, as you read this, countless families are afraid. And, at the grassroots level, the established structures in the care chain still fail to demonstrate genuine preparedness to help loved ones survive the challenge, with very few exceptions. It’s not enough to simply track numbers, to know which household has someone snorting drugs, nor to ask them how they are now and then, or to hastily sell them bread from the corner store while we see their vacant stares. We must transcend this boundary, and to do so, it’s essential to learn how to do what, in other words, to be prepared.
Because parents and guardians often alienate themselves within the web of consumerism, they cannot always cope. This sensitive link, so in need of guidance and support, must also be considered.
If the path we have chosen as a society leads through these structures, we must analyze them thoroughly, reversing outdated dynamics and committing, with sensitivity and poise, to their true daily functioning, which can truly make all the difference.