High fliers treated at Thai drug rehab monastery

By Ed Cropley

THAM KRABOK, Thailand (Reuters) - Besides its unique herbal potion and Buddhist mantras, Thailand's toughest rehab clinic offers Western addicts a chance to kick the habit far from the prying eyes of family, friends or the media.

Although the austere Buddhist monastery does not divulge the names of the thousands of foreign drug users and alcoholics to have passed through its doors, monks say they include high fliers from the worlds of politics, business and entertainment.

"It's amazing how many people high up in politics or business are drug users," said Phra Hans, a Swiss psychologist-turned-monk who is in charge of registering new arrivals at the monastery. "But we treat everybody here as absolute equals."

Tucked away in the shadow of trees and limestone crags 140 km (85 miles) north of Bangkok, Tham Krabok is a world away in every sense from exclusive detox clinics such California's Betty Ford or London's Priory.

Patients, both Western and Thai, are asked to pay only 100 baht ($3) a day, to cover their food. Treatment and accommodation are free, paid for out of contributions to the monastery.

By contrast, one month in Betty Ford costs $23,000, while the Priory is reported to be as much as $5,000 a week.

Nor are there packs of tabloid reporters and paparazzi lurking in the bushes outside its gates eager to expose yet another star as a pill-popper or smackhead.

In fact, Tham Krabok's only known celebrity patient is British rock star Pete Doherty, arguably more famous for his relationships with heroin and supermodel Kate Moss than his singing.

Doherty's time in Tham Krabok's 10-day detox program, an event that was reported in the British tabloids before it had even started, was not a happy affair.

He fled the treatment after only three days, prompting a rash of lurid reports in the British press about "the world's toughest rehab clinic", as the top-selling Sun tabloid dubbed it.

The paper variously described the monastery as "hellish" and a "notorious hellhole", and said patients faced beatings with bamboo canes and were forced to drink "poison" while under "24-hour gun guard".

Detox patients are on a strict daily regimen of manual work and medication and are under supervision for their own safety, Phra Hans said. He insisted the spartan surroundings were immaterial for those who really wanted to get clean.

"We had an Academy Award-winning actress who was all signed up to come but she made the mistake of staying in a five-star hotel in Bangkok beforehand and in the end she couldn't leave the luxury," he said.

"That's sad because she will now almost certainly die an alcoholic."