BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Drug addicts really, really  serious about breaking the habit who are willing to imbibe a secret herbal potion and partake in ritual group vomiting are welcome at an obscure Buddhist monastery in central Thailand.

    Wat Tham Krabok, 85 miles north of Bangkok, has put nearly 100,000 addicts through its "cold turkey" detox program since its founding in 1959 and given them a grounding in meditation to help them stay straight.

    Patients have to remain for at least 10 days, during which they are subject to a strict regimen of steam baths, herbal medication, leaf-sweeping and group vomiting.

    Invariably, the people who end up here come as a last resort," said Phra Hans, a Swiss psychologist who became a Buddhist monk ¡ª with the title "Phra" ¡ª after visiting Tham Krabok seven years ago.

    "Everybody who comes here must come as a warrior, ready to fight for their life," he said.

    Using a complex herbal medicine whose ingredients were revealed in a dream to the aunt of one of the monks, the monastery treated its first opium addicts in 1959.

    To this day, the 100-odd ingredients of the thick, dark potion at the center of the detox program remain a secret known only to Tham Krabok's abbot and medicine monk.

    According to Phra Hans, the potion draws toxins out of the patient's body and into the stomach. The quickest way to get the toxins out of the stomach is for the patient to drink large quantities of water and then vomit.

    Patients sit cross legged and side-by-side in front of a long open drain. Accompanied by drums and chanting, they then try to drink a bucket of water before sticking their fingers down their throats.

    Phra Hans said reports of relapse rates as low as 30 percent ¡ª levels unheard of in Western drug-addiction therapy ¡ª are unverifiable.

    "We really can't say. Full recovery takes five years or more, and we just don't have the resources to keep track of patients. We can't follow them," he said. "Cleaning out the body is only 5 percent; the other 95 percent is in the mind."

    Regardless of their religious or ethnic backgrounds ¡ª 80 percent of patients are Thai Buddhists, the rest foreigners of all denominations from around the world ¡ª patients are given a Buddhist "sacca," or vow, in which they swear never to touch drugs or alcohol again.

    The monastery has its detractors, such as British rock star Pete Doherty, whose departure after only three days led to tabloid newspapers depicting the wat as a prison camp in which patients were beaten with bamboo poles.

    Phra Hans denied any such claims.

    "Pete Doherty ran away because he wasn't ready. It was a dreadful episode. We can't lock people away or hold them against their will because that is a violation of human rights," he said. "We only want people who are ready and who are serious about getting clean."

    (Agencies)