The 148th International Training Course
Drug Offender Treatment: New Approaches to an Old Problem
Prof. Yuichiro WAKIMOTO“This is not another earthquake. It has never shaken like this since I came up toTokyo!”
On the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake, crouching under my desk andgazing at the floor that seemed to tremble endlessly, I felt a horribly ominous feeling.
After what seemed like a long time, I crawled out from under the desk, with dust
all over my trousers, and went to make sure that the Kenyan participants staying with us
were not injured or hurt. Thankfully they were not. Shortly afterwards, as I tried tobusily and hastily arrange their safe trip back home to Africa, I noticed my supervisor
watching the breaking news with concern across his face.
“What is he looking at? The nuclear power plant in Fukushima is damaged?!
is going to be bad, isn’t it?”This

Will the 148th Course be affected?
Unfortunately, my forebodings proved right. Shortly after the quake, words like“cancellation”, “suspension” and “postponement” were heard everywhere in Tokyo, andthe schedule of the 148th Course that I had painstakingly arranged for became a mere
blank page. I later learned that quite a few international academic meetings in Tokyo
scheduled for that time were actually cancelled, suspended or postponed due to theaftermath of the quake.
***The UNAFEI 148th International Training Course was designed to provide
participants with expertise regarding “treatment of drug dependent offenders”. The large
number of drug offenders and their high recidivism/relapse rate are a source ofheadache for criminal justice practitioners all over the world, and they pose serious
challenges in developed and developing countries alike. Our plan was to look into thisold problem from new perspectives, the key words being “cognitive behaviouraltherapies”, “therapeutic communities”, “systematic evaluation of programmes”,

“evidence-based programmes” and “drug courts”: terms used with increasing frequency.
After a series of painful and desperate efforts to catch up on the logisticalarrangements, we managed to implement the Course, with the Opening Ceremony heldon 11 May as originally planned. As it turned out, ten overseas participants andobservers from Asia and Africa and eight Japanese participants were attending, inalmost the same manner as previous Courses.
***We were fortunate to have an excellent line up of lecturers. Reflecting themulti-disciplinary nature of the course topic, we invited lecturers from varying fields
including clinical psychology, medical science, criminal justice administration, andlegal studies as well as practitioners of the Ministry of Justice.
Field experiences supplemented the lectures. Participants observed a real-life
session of a treatment programme for drug addicts, conducted a mock urine testing, andexperienced a “caravan car”, a bus equipped with various tools for anti-drug
awareness-raising.
Considering the importance of partnerships with public and private organizations
outside of the criminal justice circles, we also arranged for visits to a psychiatrichospital, a public mental health welfare centre, a halfway house, and a private self-helpgroup of ex-drug addicts.
As part of the Course’s extra-curricular activities, local volunteers organized a
traditional Japanese tea ceremony for the participants, and local host families invitedthem to visit their homes and dine together. The participants also enjoyed (window)
shopping at the National Prison Products Exhibition.
In short, the Course was designed to provide participants with an intensive
one-month’s training, full of special lectures and visits to virtually all the relevantorganizations, which would be useful for beginners and professionals alike.
My only regret is that we were unable to invite as many overseas experts as we hadoriginally planned. It would have been wonderful if we could have provided theparticipants an opportunity to learn from such experts about the most recentprogrammes designed to reduce relapse and recidivism, such as those focusing on
cognitive behavioural oriented interventions.
***
In the first weekend of the Course, participants and UNAFEI members visited
Senso-ji, a time-honoured Buddhist temple in Tokyo. There, one fellow professor
suggested that I draw a fortune slip to predict the fate of the Course, either good luck or
bad luck. Not having enough courage at that time, I declined. Now, I would like toleave it to the participants to evaluate the Course.
***
The Closing Ceremony was attended by a number of representatives from theEmbassies, and each of the proudly smiling participants received his or her certificate
from the Director of UNAFEI: the 148th International Training Course wassuccessfully concluded. All is well that ends well, just as the proverb goes. I would
like to thank all the people and organizations that assisted us in implementing theCourse, and the UNODC Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific for sending us avisiting expert.

Thank you.