In a special session called for the purpose, Congressmen referred to Chile’s ranking of suicide rates, over-the-counter psychotropic drug use and alcohol, and considered the mental health diagnosis a late achievement.
Also part of the debate was the impact of Covid-19 as a trigger, the lack of specific public policies, coordination issues between the Departments of Home Affairs, Education and Health, and the use of resources to implement deep reforms.
In this regard, lawmaker Iván Flores highlighted that 46 percent of the population admits to having a worse mood than before the pandemic and indicated the need for psychiatric health to regain its place in the health system, additionally mentioning the progress of Drug trafficking without institutional counterbalance.
On the subject, Senator Francisco Chahuán stressed that today Chile is a destination for drug trafficking and that long-term alcohol and marijuana use provokes disorders, anxiety and depression, he said, while noting that young people between 13 and 18 years of age are particularly affected by the fall into these dependencies.
These concerns were raised by Ministers of Home Affairs and Public Security, Iskia Siches; for Social Development, Jeanette Vega, and for Health (Minsal), María Begoña Yarza.
According to Siches, “The challenges lie in the urgency of strengthening prevention, having flexible treatment programs for problem drug use with a regional focus, and countering drug trafficking and related crime.”
He announced that the Interior Ministry is drafting a policy against organized crime, focusing on the logistics and financing chain and updating the state intelligence system.
For his part, Vega mentioned some projects dealing with this issue, stressing that President Gabriel Boric has entrusted them with setting up the Comprehensive Service for Children, which has mental health and drug use prevention as one of its axes.
Meanwhile, Yarza said the minsal supports care at family psychiatric health centers and psychiatric intensive care units.
jha/lpn