The drugs rehabilitation centre will be established in Melbourne at the instigation of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, as announced by Archbishop Makarios of Australia during his recent visit to the capital of Victoria.
The rehabilitation centre will be established since 38% of young people in the wider region of Melbourne use drugs and addictive substances, which has a huge impact on families, schools and children themselves.
“The Church has so far placed great emphasis on the care of the elder people. Elderly care facilities known as ‘St Basil’ are known all over Australia. We are currently building five more such institutions in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, with a multi-million dollar budget. However, we should also care for these young people,” Archbishop Makarios said while stressing that “there is a drug war in Australia right now and, unfortunately, we have not realised how grave the danger is.”
Our Ecumenical Patriarch proposed this idea, who was informed of the critical situation by Archbishop Makarios and immediately proposed that a rehabilitation centre should be created for young drug addicts.