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The Vietnam News |
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HANOI - The
number of drug addicts in Vietnam's
capital has fallen slightly after soaring
in recent years, a senior anti-drugs
official said on Thursday.
Hanoi vice tsar sees fewer drug addictsNguyen Vi Hung, chief of the Hanoi Anti-Social Evils Department, said there was evidence that a raft of measures to combat rising heroin abuse was having some impact. Hung said the number of detected addicts at end-1998 in Hanoi -- home to around 2.7 million people -- had surged from 2,480 in 1994 to 10,001, of which 64 percent were aged between 18 and 30. ``Thanks to measures and efforts made in the country to reveal addicts and arrest drug traffickers, the number of addicts in Hanoi (as at June 20) was 9,298,'' Hung said in an interview. International anti-drug agencies say Vietnam is becoming an increasingly important conduit for heroin, opium and amphetamines from the infamous Golden Triangle, centred on Myanmar, Laos and parts of southwestern China and northern Thailand. Illegal drug abuse across communist-ruled Vietnam has risen dramatically in recent years, and last year the number of people prosecuted for drug offences climbed 142.2 percent over 1997. ``Before the early 1990s drugs in Hanoi were not an issue but later, with the opening of market economy, social evils have been rising,'' Hung said. ``After one year we think the most effective model is for addicts to stay at home and have help from their family,'' Hung said. ``This enables them partially to keep their prestige.'' The readdiction rate for such people was 63 percent, compared with 85 percent for those who went to rehabilitation centres. Other measures included education and public campaigns, encouraging anonymous informers to report suspected drug users and dealers, and shaming detained addicts through public self-criticism, Hung said. Reuters - July 1st, 1998. |