For seventeen years, Razlan Zainal Abidin was a substance abuser who had no thoughts of quitting the potentially deadly habit. To the Tg Karang (Selangor) native, drugs were cheap, and he could afford them as he had a day job. Heroin boosted his confidence. He enjoyed being surrounded by fellow users.
His addiction was so bad that although he had been in and out of detoxification centres, he kept returning to drugs. In April 1991, his father reported him to the authorities. It takes a lot of love, courage and concern for any parent to tell on their own child, but his father knew that heroin was going to destroy his dear son’s life. It was the only way to stop him. Razlan was sent to a governmental rehabilitation centre at Pusat Serenti Tampoi. In January 1993, he came out completely sober, thanks to his mentor – psychologist Dr. Latiff.
Razlan decided to start his life anew in Johor. To Razlan, a familiar place and face would trigger him to going back to his old ways – and Johor gave him the opportunity to start fresh. He took up a job as a balloon operator earing him RM285 per month. But Razlan wanted to do more. As an ex-addict, he knew exactly what other addicts go through and felt he could guide and help them out of the situation – with no judgement, but with sincere help and understanding. While working multiple jobs – some of which were offered to him by friends, Razlan also upgraded himself through education, in preparation to effectively help others. He took professional courses in Human Resources, Safety and Health, and built up his knowledge on drug addiction, relapse prevention, HIV, AIDS, and other drug-related programmes. He worked with various rehabilitation homes and NGOs to help others. Razlan’s mission was set: he wanted to open up his own drug rehabilitation centre.
Rumah Hijrah was set up in October 2010, where Razlan’s wishes materialised thanks to the money from his EPF. He is the only ex-addict who operates a drug rehabilitation centre using his own expenses and runs it with a team of recovering addicts. Like any hurdle in life, starting out was not easy financially. People around him said he was fighting a losing battle, renting a bungalow for the halfway house, not charging clients, and not expecting any funding. Now at the age of 66 and having run Rumah Hijrah for so long, he is thankful to be healthy, working, and giving back to the society. Seeing families happy together gives him overwhelming satisfaction.
Age does not stop him and determination to help others from going down the difficult path moves him to strive more. Razlan is currently studying more about drug treatment through an Executive Masters in Addiction Studies with the Asia Metropolitan University and Emeritus Addiction Studies. He hopes to deliver better services through science and evidence-based methods.
“Recovery is a life-long process,” said Razlan. He plans to open up three more centres for men, women, and an aftercare halfway house, believing in giving a second chance to everyone to pause, reflect, and reshuffle their own lives.
Support is what we need.
