The opulent surroundings of resorts lile 'The Cabin' are one of the reasons Aussies are flocking to Thailand to cure ther addictions.

BY THE time she was 21, Rosa* was addicted to alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana. The Australian model was a high-functioning addict.

Rosa would go to work having downed half a bottle of vodka and attend family events still high from the previous night. Bikies sent her steroids in the mail and she began snorting meth. Her tipping point was a four-day bender on meth and MDMA and just non-stop drinking.

“I had no respect for myself or anyone else,” she said. “All I cared about was staying awake and staying high. In Australia, people have this idea that meth is just for junkies. But it’s everywhere. Meth is so prevalent.”

Australia has the highest proportion of recreational drug users in the world, according to the United Nations 2014 World Drug Report. We are the biggest consumers of ecstasy, second in opioids, third in methamphetamines and fourth in cocaine. There are 2000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings held every week in Australia. The organisation estimates it has 19,000 Australian members.

Rosa is now 23 and has been sober for 13 months and 2 weeks. She’s one of the thousands of Australians who have checked themselves into rehab overseas for drug and alcohol addiction. Rehab in Australia is expensive and too close to where an addict’s habit can flourish. “I wanted to get out of Australia,” Rosa said. “There was so much shame and guilt with the stuff I’d done. I just wanted to leave.”

She spent two months at The Cabin, a luxury addiction rehabilitation centre in Chiang Mai, in Thailand’s north. Australia is the Cabin’s largest market — 212 Australian clients were admitted between the start of 2013 and September this year. They spend a minimum of 28 days in primary treatment for substance (alcohol, drugs) or process (sex, gambling, food) addictions. Most spend the subsequent months recovering in a “Sober House” 20 minutes away.

News.com.au travelled to Thailand to investigate why so many Aussies are making the trip.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF REHAB

It’s breakfast time at The Cabin’s tranquil riverside restaurant. About 50 people — some clients, some staff — mingle around buffet tables laden with food. Some try the traditional Thai breakfast or ask the chef to whip up an omelet. The near-empty Vegemite jar and huge tub of Milo are instant giveaway signs of the Australian presence here.

These people could easily pass as ordinary Western holiday-makers, keeping cool in the breeze from the tranquil tropical garden outside. This rehab centre, which was constructed from an old riverside resort, feels more like The Beach than Girl, Interrupted. There are no white lab coats or stern Nurse Ratched-types wielding hoses. Most of the counsellors and support staff are former addicts themselves.

Clients pay $14,000 a month (or their parents foot the bill), and live in lavish villas overlooking manicured gardens by the River Ping. The rooms are more like mini-houses, with elegant wrap-around verandas and huge bathrooms. There’s a pool (a blessing in the sticky 35-degree heat), an outdoor gym and daily yoga classes. Sunday is excursion day, which could mean a visit to an elephant park, a hot spring or a temple. All meals are prepared by a team of chefs and maids clean the rooms every day.

While The Cabin says its fees are a third cheaper than similar centres in Australia, $14,000 is still more than triple the average Australian’s monthly earnings. The cost and the promise of confidentiality inevitably attracts celebrity clients. Family Feud’s Grant Denyer and British rocker Pete Doherty both received treatment at The Cabin (Doherty was reportedly kicked out for being disruptive). Senior corporate execs, mining workers and medical professionals are the most common client occupations. But most people I meet are young 20-somethings whose parents are footing the bill. Were they worried about being thousands of dollars in debt or financially dependent on their parents? “I don’t have an option,” said one woman, who is recovering from a prescription drug habit. “I’d rather be in debt than use again.” Her friend gave me a smile and quipped, “Whoever says ‘money can’t buy happiness’ has never been to rehab”.

THE “RECOVERY CAPITAL”

Thailand is a hugely popular tourist destination for Australians (almost 1 million Aussies travelled to Thailand in 2013) and Chiang Mai has earned a reputation as the chilled-out alternative to bustling Bangkok.

For most clients, Chiang Mai is miles away from home, both in distance and culture. Here, they are anonymous and can escape from the environment which encourages them to use. Some have told friends and colleagues they’re on “a mini-break to Thailand”, which isn’t too far from the truth. Their Facebook photos look like regular tourist happy snaps — selfies on elephants and photos of the local temple.

When I ask a young woman if it’s hard going through treatment without the support of her family, she gives me an incredulous look. “Being away from my family is the best thing for me right now,” she says. Her mother is an addict and wants her to come home. “I know if I go back, I’ll just start using again.”

There’s a strong “addiction community” in Chiang Mai, says one of the counsellors, with numerous AA and NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings held daily across the city. Chiang Mai was chosen to host the first Narcotics Anonymous Thailand Regional Conference in February this year, because of this strong community base.

Many former addicts choose to move to the city permanently after they recover and these group meetings are what keep them on track. They’re a daily necessity if they are to stay clean.

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN REHAB?

While The Cabin might feel like a resort, a day spent here is more akin to school camp than a relaxing holiday. Every waking hour is scheduled with an activity — a group therapy session, physical exercise, meals or a one-on-one counselling session. Routine is key to recovery and the clients are kept constantly busy. Wi-Fi access is limited to a few hours a day (and certain pages, like gambling sites, are blocked) as is phone access. These rules are strictly enforced and breaking them means privileges are revoked.

The treatment is a combination of AA’s 12-steps program, rewritten in secular language, and cognitive behavioural therapy. Psychiatric treatment is kept to a minimum.

Common charges laid against addicts (“It’s your own fault”; ”Why can’t you just stop using?”; “You have no self-discipline”) are left at the door. Here addiction is treated as a disease.

Addiction affects the part of the brain where our pleasure and reward sensors live, says The Cabin’s program director, Alastair Mordey.

Mr Mordey says people usually become addicts when a unique combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors work together.

“[Addiction] is genetic in more than 60 per cent of cases. That’s a scientific fact,” he said. “Addiction is a midbrain-based illness, which effectively rewires your frontal lobe functioning, so your ability to have impulse control is greatly lessened when you have the gene that using [drugs or alcohol] will turn on,” he said.

“An addict’s dopamine system fires off poorly, leaving the sufferer feeling irritable, restless and discontented. That’s why addicts are unable to stop, on a biological level. Their brains are wired differently.”

ROSA’S STORY

Rosa spent two months at The Cabin and an additional four at the nearby recovery centre, Sober House. Addiction runs deep in her family — her grandfather died of alcoholism and her father and sister have also been to rehab.

As well as alcohol, her drug of choice was cocaine. “A lot of cocaine,” she said. “It made me feel good about myself because it’s a very ego-driven drug. I battled with anorexia, and cocaine was my solution to that. I also used pot, ecstasy and MDMA.” When Rosa first arrived in Chiang Mai she was immediately taken to hospital to detox. “On the plane I got smashed. I drank continuously.”

Rosa says going through treatment with other addicts — and hearing their stories in group therapy — was what helped her get sober. “Some of the greatest things I ever learned were from the people I was closest to in treatment. You could see in them where you were at and it encouraged self-reflection. You could say things because you all share that common ground.

She says the Sunday activities helped her “enjoy life again”

“I initially thought they were kind of pointless, but they inspired me to get back out in the world. You go out on a jungle tour or ride elephants. I learned that life can be enjoyable and you can have fun. I realised, ‘You know what? Life is worth living’.”

RETURNING TO NORMAL LIFE

The post-Chiang Mai blues hit me hard during my dull morning commute to work back home. I found myself daydreaming about the beautiful mountaintop Doi Suthep temple and a mind-blowing Kaffir lime salad I ate one lunchtime. If the stark contrast between life here and in Thailand is enough to rattle me, I worry about how recovering addicts find the transition.

“It wasn’t easy,” says Rosa. “When I first came back there was a lot of fear. It was hard committing to staying in [Australia]. What would people think?”

She made amends day by day, attending daily AA and NA meetings and now has a “sponsor” — an older, former addict she checks in with regularly.

“The reality of our client demographic is that most of them aren’t going back to living on the street after treatment,” says Mr Mordey. “Not many of our clients are from challenging backgrounds. They’re high functioning addicts, so they’re going back to some sort of a life.”

As well as online support — alumni forums and video chats with counsellors — clients are encouraged to channel their addiction into a productive, healthy avenue, such as service work or exercise. Mr Mordey says many former clients offer support to struggling addicts or volunteer at drug support centres. “An addict’s natural talents are extremism. So they say to themselves ‘I am going to be extremely well. I am going to be extremely balanced’.

Rosa says being back home has made her realise how widespread drug abuse is in Australia

“I’ve met so many people who have been to rehab who are trying to manage their addiction. The more I’m here the more I realise there are so many people who suffer with it but they just try and manage it. They just say to me, ‘Don’t pick up again. Just don’t do it’. I just pray every day that I won’t.”

*Name has been changed for privacy reasons.

This reporter travelled to Chiang Mai as a guest of The Cabin.