Nine Drug Rehab Graduates Swear Off Addiction in Sacred Ceremony
Nine drug rehabilitation graduates took sacred vows at a temple in Nakhon Ratchasima after completing a 55-day recovery program, with officials emphasizing continued community support to prevent relapse.
On August 18, 2025, at Jang-In Temple in Muang District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, District Officer Chinkorn Kaenkong, Deputy Officer Kittithad Fujitree, and Tambon Chief Sithiporn Bunyai led nine drug rehabilitation graduates through a formal pledge ceremony in which they vowed to sever ties with drug use. The participants received ritual water blessings, attended by family members providing moral support, before preparing to return to their families and communities.
All nine individuals completed their 55-day recovery program at the Nakhon Ratchasima Social Rehabilitation Center (CI Center) based on the university campus, where they were taught discipline, behavioral change, and structured daily routines including exercise, cleaning duties, meals, sports, and group activities. One 45-year-old participant, known as B, shared his experience: after an initial period of homesickness and discomfort in the first week, he adjusted once a structured routine was established. He reflected that during his 55 days in the center, he learned that drug addiction cannot solve life problems, and that his initial involvement stemmed from family troubles he mistakenly believed drugs could resolve—but instead they deepened his crisis and cost him relationships and family.
B committed to using this opportunity to start afresh and warned others still caught in drug use that substances only destroy health, finances, and families, urging them to open their hearts to treatment because recovery is always possible. Abbot Maha Tho of Jang-In Temple offered blessings and encouragement to the nine graduates, reminding them to hold fast to their pledges with strong resolve and view past mistakes as lessons, while emphasizing that although the past cannot be undone, everyone can choose to do their best in the present. He stressed that ending drug use marks the true beginning of a new life where families can be happy, children can have futures, and the graduates can rebuild careers and futures of their own.
District Officer Chinkorn explained that the CI Center serves as a vital mechanism to support graduates at risk of relapse, having provided care for more than 60 days through collaborative efforts of local administration, tambon chiefs, village elders, government agencies, and community members. The nine participants underwent formal evaluation across six categories and six measures before being deemed ready to return to their families and communities. He clarified that today's pledge and water blessing ceremony, while intended to bolster morale and provide psychological reinforcement, is not a scientific guarantee of sobriety but rather part of the motivational framework to help graduates honor their commitments. Following their departure from the center, graduates will receive ongoing monitoring and support.
