Drug addicts rise by nearly 6 percent yearly in HCMC

According to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, the total number of drug addicts averagely increased by 5.7 percent yearly from 2016-2019.
A rehabilitation center in Lam Dong Province (Photo: SGGP)
A rehabilitation center in Lam Dong Province (Photo: SGGP)
Specifically, in 2019, the city had more than 25,000 addicts; of them, the number of people using crystal meth climbed up accounting for 70 percent-80 percent.
Most of addicts who use synthetic drugs are children of rich families; therefore, it is significant that these young people should be separated from bad friends and seducing environment with addicted people around, said an employee in the Nhi Xuan center for rehab.
As a result, mandatory rehabilitation in governmental centers is better than in community or in family, said the employee.
However, there has been a hole in mandatory rehabilitation for teenagers that should be fixed. According to the Law for Drug Prevention’s article 29, addicts aged from 12 to under 18 have undergone detoxification in family and community but they are still addicted; they will be sent to the governmental center for rehab to undertake obligatory addiction treatment programs.
Oppositely, as per the Law for Administration Violation, addicts aged from 18 must undergo detoxification but there is no regulation for compulsory detoxification for those aged from 12 to below 18.
Meantime, Deputy head of the team of National Assembly delegates in the city Van Thi Bach Tuyet said that addicts aged from 12 to below 18 need more attention and timely rehabilitation; hence, the team of National Assembly delegates had petitioned the government to set up centers for rehab for these specially teenagers.

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