The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Public Security held a conference in Hanoi on June 15 to summarize the measures taken for drug prevention and fighting as well as drug rehabilitation in the first six months of 2012.
Statistics from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs show that from January to June 2012, rehabilitation centers in the country have aided 16,000 out of 35,000 drug addicts to undertake detoxification, and 9,400 of these addicts were helped at the centers while the other 6,600 were treated at home.
Local authorities also organized vocational classes for 4,200 of these addicts and provided financial support to 2,045, soon after they had been released to go back to the community.
In the near future, the government will continue to support local authorities in rehabilitation schemes to treat addicts while still at home or in centers for drug addicts.
This will encourage concerned agencies to use social security programs as a way to monitor the patients. Rehabilitation programs using methadone are also being promoted.
According to the Police Department of Criminal Investigation for Anti-Drugs, currently heroin is entering Vietnam via various routes and methods, such as by air freight, express mail, overseas study documents, or sea freight near borders of Laos, China, and the Southwest frontier.
At the northern border posts of Son La, Nghe An as well as the central border posts of Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, heroin was discovered found hidden in lead-lined containers, which makes it difficult to detect.
