Allen Myers, Ho Chin Minh City
The most commonly used addictive drug in Vietnam is heroin, according to officials of the Nhi Xuan rehabilitation centre for drug addicts. The centre is one of eight managed by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union with government funding.
There are currently some 2250, mostly young, men in the Nhi Xuan centre. According to the centre's director, about 45% of them have a low educational level, and 65% are from poor families. Twenty-five per cent were homeless before they arrived at the centre.
Some 27% of the addicts here were involved in some type of crime, and most of the residents of the centre are required to be there. However, the director and staff stress that they consider addiction a medical problem, not a crime. The staff, many of whom are volunteers from the Youth Union, regard themselves as social workers.
Nhi Xuan has a four-year program for treating addicts. How successful it is cannot be stated yet, because the first four-year cycle will not be completed until the end of this year.
New arrivals are given a thorough health check-up and advice on how to maintain their health, including instruction about the danger of HIV and injecting drug use.
The first half of the program at Nhi Xuan emphasises psychological counseling, education and vocational training, what the directors call "social-cultural" education, education in Vietnamese history and small-group activities and discussions.
Participation in sports is also encouraged. Most residents are visited by their families on weekends.
The last two years emphasise participation in production. The aim is to help these young people "see the value of money from labour", as one of the staff put it. This is particularly important because 90% of the addicts were unemployed when they arrived at the centre.
The recovering addicts are given paid employment at one of the factories located within the grounds of the centre. We visited a garment factory and brick tile factory; at the latter, a lion dance was being performed to mark the opening of a new section.
Grounds for new factories are being prepared — an indication that the authorities have no illusions about quickly overcoming the problem of drug addiction but are preparing a serious and long-term campaign.
From Green Left Weekly, April 6, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.