VietNamNet Bridge – The Ho Chi Minh City AIDS Committee will start using methadone as a treatment for drug addicts beginning next month.

The one-year programme sponsored by the World Health Organisation will be carried out at community counseling centres in districts 4, 6 and Binh Thanh, said Le Truong Giang, deputy director of the City’s Department of Health, who is also vice chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City AIDS Committee.

The official said that methadone, taken orally once a day, would be an effective treatment for narcotic withdrawal and dependence.

According to the US government’s Food and Drug Administration website, methadone, a synthetic narcotic, has been used for more than 30 years to treat opioid addiction.

Methadone reduces cravings associated with heroin use but does not provide the euphoric rush of heroin.

With regular use, patients do not experience the extreme highs and lows that result from the waxing and waning of heroin levels in their blood.

Ultimately the patient remains physically dependent on methadone, but is freed from the uncontrolled, compulsive and disruptive behaviour seen in heroin addicts.

Patients on methadone treatment are under the close supervision of medical workers.

Giang said that results from methadone treatment in China, Indonesia and Australia showed that the crime rate committed by users treated with methadone fell significantly.

Methadone is offered for free to drug users participating in treatment in Vietnam. Giang said he hoped the programme would be effective so that it could be offered to more beneficiaries.

Since March of last year, about 700 drug users in the northern port city of Hai Phong have participated in a pilot methadone treatment programme funded by the US and UK governments. The programme will conclude at the end of the year.

(Source: VNA)