Vietnam will tighten control over compulsory rehabilitation for drug users to avoid social insecurity, officials said at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Nov 3. Compulsory treatment will enable local authorities to better manage drug users, detoxify and train them, the officials said. Drug users are found in all localities nationwide with the highest number seen in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Son La. Ho Chi Minh City has urged the central government to allow it to conduct temporary detoxification as they said that the drug addiction links to crimes in the locality. The city has roughly 40,000 drug users. In the first nine months of this year, local police busted 4,668 criminal cases and 2,579 stealing cases, and up to 70% of the stealing cases were related to drug users. The number of drug users in Vietnam had increased four-fold over the past two decades to hit 204,377 as of end-September, the government said in a report presented at the ongoing session of the National Assembly. Vietnam records an additional 7,000 drug users a year. The government said that it costs the state about VND9.4 million ($449) for compulsory detoxification per year. (Tin Tuc – News Nov 4 p5)
