HCM City addicts receive support

HCM City addicts receive support

HCM CITY — Two more methadone therapy clinics will open next month to treat drug abusers in HCM City, according to a city official.


Le Van Quy, deputy head of the HCM City Social Evils Prevention Division, said the new clinics in districts 8 and Thu Duc were part of a pilot programme in methadone therapy.

More than 750 drug users have participated in the programme in districts 4, 6 and Binh Thanh, with half of the patients coming from other city districts.

"Most patients have strictly followed the treatment process and are in good physical and mental health," he said.

During the first six months of the year, 1,395 drug users were sent to rehabilitation centres in HCM City, an increase of 36.6 per cent against the same period last year.

Out of that total, nearly 1,150 were new addicts, and the remaining were relapsed addicts.

More than 49 per cent of the 1,395 drug users were homeless people and residents of other provinces and cities.

"The large number of drug users coming from other provinces and cities to HCM City has caused many difficulties in the fight against drug abuse," he added.

During the first six months of the year, rehabilitation centres also received four prostitutes from HCM City and 31 drug users who reside outside the city. Two were homeless.

In 2005 the city launched a programme to help former drug users re-integrate into the community via vocational training, employment and loan assistance.

As a result, over the past five years, the number of relapsed addicts has fallen to 2,495 people, or 20 per cent of the total number of drug users enrolled during that period.

In previous years, nearly 97-98 per cent of the participants relapsed, according to a report from the city's Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The report found that in the past five years more than 7,200 former drug users found jobs after re-integrating into the community, accounting for 70 per cent of the total number of returnees.

More than 7,000 people, 95 of whom are prostitutes, are living in public and private rehabilitation centres in the city, according to the report. — VNS



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