The ongoing campaign to collect drug addicts into rehabilitation centers in Ho Chi Minh City has helped improve the crime situation in the city remarkably, a senior police officer has said.

>> Court orders 11 Ho Chi Minh City junkies to undergo compulsory detoxification Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Si Quang made the comment at a press conference held by the city police department on Monday. Since the campaign to identify and send junkies to rehabilitation centers pending court orders to officially take them to compulsory detoxification facilities was initiated on December 5, the crime picture in the city has been brighter, the official said.  From that day until December 28, 449 criminal offences occurred in the city, down by two percent from the previous month and about seven percent from the same period last year. Robbery cases have been reduced by six percent from November and as much as 21 percent year on year, while cases of property robbery by snatching decreased by 11 percent and 15 percent respectively. It is estimated that the total number of criminal cases in 2004 is three percent less than in 2013, Quang said. Also from December 5 to 28, concerned agencies have tested 4,626 people on suspicion of drug addiction and 2,571 of them have been confirmed as drug addicts. Of the addicts, 1,453 have been sent to the Binh Trieu Rehabilitation Center in Binh Thanh District and the Nhi Xuan Vocational Training and Job Creation Center in Hoc Mon District. On December 23, the People’s Court of District 3 decided to send 11 out of the 1,453 drug addicts to compulsory drug detoxification facilities. According to statistics, the city now has about 19,000 drug addicts, of whom 12,000 have unstable residence. The campaign was initiated after the National Assembly adopted a resolution on November 10 to allow junkies to be sent to rehab facilities pending court judgments. Pursuant to the Law on the Handling of Administrative Violations, which took effect on January 1, 2014, addicts can be taken to a drug detoxification facility only when a court judgment is issued for this purpose and when they fail to stay sober after being monitored for three to six months by local authorities.

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