Welcome to Spotlight.
I’m Liz Waid.
And I’m Colin Lowther.
Spotlight uses a special English method of
broadcasting.
It is easier for people to understand - no
matter where in the world they live.
A group of young men are busy making bread.
They are learning how to cook many different
kinds of food.
They laugh and make jokes while they work.
Their lives are very different from what they
were a short time ago.
They are all recovering from drug problems.
They have all been addicted to drugs.
But now, they are living and working in the
San Patrignano drug treatment centre.
Today’s Spotlight is on San Patrignano,
and their work with drug addicts.
Eighteen hundred young people live at San
Patrignano.
They have all promised to stay there for at
least three years.
They want to learn how to live their lives
without using drugs.
Vincenzo Muccioli started San Patrignano in
1978.
The community started in his home in the hills
above Rimini, Italy.
With a group of friends, he developed a method
to rescue these young drug addicts.
Treatment at San Patrignano has several parts.
Vincenzo Muccioli believed that addiction
starts as a reaction to bad things in a person’s
life - bad experiences, a lack of love, and
a bad environment.
As a result, he believed that drug addicts
need to be surrounded by beauty.
They need to be with people who will love
them.
Drug addicts need to be with people who believe
they can change - people who will help them
to change.
For this reason Muccioli designed San Patrignano
very carefully.
There is beauty everywhere you look.
The buildings are all beautiful, and all around
the centre there is beautiful country.
Each drug addict also has to learn to live
as part of a very large family.
For the first year, they live together in
houses for six to eight people.
Later, husbands, wives and children can also
join the community.
Everyone has to share in doing the house work.
They also work in teams to cook and serve
meals for the whole community.
Everyone eats together in a large dining room.
Being together in this way is all part of
the training.
Drug addicts often think only of themselves
and their own needs.
They only think about getting the drugs they
need.
But at San Patrignano, they must learn how
to do things as a group.
They have to think about other people.
Another very important part of the training
is to learn how to do a job.
There are 57 workshops at the centre.
These workshops teach many different skills.
For example, some people learn how to make
things out of wood, iron or cloth.
Other people learn how to train horses or
grow crops and care for animals on a farm.
Some workshops teach jobs like plumbing - putting
water pipes into a building and repairing
any pipes that go wrong.
In Italy, wine is a very important part of
the culture.
So San Patrignano also has a vineyard, where
they make wine.
Experts teach all these skills.
When the young addicts leave, they have skills
to get jobs.
They can live independent lives.
The methods used at San Patrignano succeed
for more than 70 per cent of addicts.
Muccioli believed that with the right training
and support, these drug addicts could remain
drug free for the rest of their lives.
This success is clear.
But some experts do criticize the methods.
Vincenzo Muccioli believed in very severe
discipline.
The community has many rules.
And some people believe that the rules are
too hard for the drug addicts to follow.
Some former members have said that this discipline
hurt them physically and emotionally.
However, the government has investigated the
community many times.
It approves the treatment.
And San Patrignano has helped many people.
In 1995, Vincenzo Muccioli died.
He was only 61 years old.
Many people wondered if San Patrignano could
survive without him.
Vincenzo’s son Andrea had already joined
the community.
And he became the leader after Vincenzo’s
death.
Vincenzo’s second son, Giacomo, also became
involved.
His job is getting financial support for the
centre.
Drug addicts do not pay anything for their
treatment at San Patrignano.
Their three or four year stay is completely
free.
The centre does not accept money from the
government or from the parents of the young
people.
Andrea and Giacomo believe that these young
people need true love.
And love can only be given as a gift.
Giving their services completely free has
become one of the most important values of
the San Patrignano community.
The necessary money comes from many individuals
and companies who believe in the community.
They also support the work by supplying equipment
and materials for the workshops.
Teachers and experts also give their time.
Finally, about half of the money for the center
comes from selling products from the workshops.
This includes animal training.
And it also includes excellent food and wine.
Making these things increases the self-respect
of the addicts.
It helps them to believe in themselves, and
their skills.
It shows that they have value in the world.
The community at San Patrignano does not judge
anyone for the harm they may have caused to
themselves or to other people in the past.
Instead, the community tries to discover the
good that each of these young people can do
in the future.
The website for San Patrignano gives some
of Vincenzo Muccioli’s words.
These words describe how he saw San Patrignano.
“There are many problems that affect the
drug addict.
But drug use is the least important.
The center of the problem is not drugs.
… It is the human person with his fears,
and the situations that threaten to pull him
in.
That is why I do not like to say or hear that
this is a community for drug addicts.
This is a community for living.
It is where you can restart your life after
years as a social outsider.”
The writer of this program was Joy Smith.
The producer was Nick Mangeolles.
The voices you heard were from the United
Kingdom and the United States.
All quotes were adapted for this program and
voiced by Spotlight.
You can listen to this program again, and
read it, on the internet at www.radioenglish.net.
This program is called “Defeating Drugs”.
You can also leave your comments on our website.
Or you can email us at radio@radioenglish.net.
You can also find us on Facebook - just search
for spotlightradio.
We hope you can join us again for the next
Spotlight program.
Goodbye.
