Drug addicts in HCM City kicking habit with methadone
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Methadone is taken orally so it helps reduce the risk of HIV infection and diseases that are transmitted via the blood. |
Some 608 drug addicts have been treated with methadone in HCM City in the last year and results have been satisfactory, said the HCM City HIV/AIDS Prevention Committee at a meeting to review the experimental programme.
Interviews with over 300 drug addicts who were treated with methadone revealed that the number of patients who returned to heroin use account for 24.3 percent of the addicts who were treated with methadone for 0-3 months. This ratio decreases for patients who took methadone for 3-6 months (10.6%) and over 6 months (5-6%).
HCM City Deputy Director of Health Le Truong Giang said this programme was implemented in three districts, Binh Thanh, 4 and 6, and involved 608 people. Two new rehabilitation centres using methadone will be opened in the city.
According to Giang, methadone is a gentle addictive, which is used to gradually replace heroin, a method known familiarly as “habit cures habit”.
Methadone is taken orally so it helps reduce the risk of HIV infection and diseases that are transmitted via the blood. This medicine is not only less addictive than heroin, its users also don’t have to increase the dosage (taken once a day). However, methadone is ineffective for addictions to other drugs like marijuana, valium and cocaine.
The Health Ministry has chosen Hai Phong and HCM City for the trial use of methadone treatment. Under this programme, methadone is provided free of charge. After the trial period, patients will have to pay for the medicine, but the fee is only 6000 dong per day.
Methadone has been used in the US since 1965. Since then, it has come to nearly 70 countries in the world.
In 2005, around 585,000 people in Europe were rehabilitated with methadone. In Asia, China takes the lead in using this rehabilitation method, with 503 centres in 23 provinces, attracting over 60,000 addicts. Thailand implemented this method in the 1980s.
VietNamNet/TT/VNE/TP
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