The number of drug addicts in Vietnam is rising about six percent per year on average, the country’s labor ministry has said.

>> It’s hard to identify drug addicts in Vietnam: ministry Nguyen Trong Dam, a Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs, released the figure at a ceremony in Hanoi on Thursday to launch a movement to help junkies with detoxification and re-integration into communities. Currently, the number of drug addicts in the country stands at 204,000, and the figure rises at an average rate of six percent per year, Deputy Minister Dam said. Besides the addicts of heroin, cocaine and other drugs, the number of people addicted to methamphetamine, a type of synthetic drug, is increasing greatly, the official added.   The movement will assist drug addicts in their rehabilitation and will offer them healthcare services during post-detoxification, the official said. The movement’s message is “Communities Join Hands in Supporting Drug Addicts.”  Participants in the movement will be given vocational training, provided with jobs, or granted capital to run a business after they have successfully been detoxified, he added. Under the movement, each volunteer will try their best to help at least one drug addict to join drug detoxification or assist at least one former drug addict to re-integrate into their community. Currently, only 39 of 63 provinces and cities in the country have put together volunteer teams to provide help for drug addicts, Deputy Minister Dam said. The ministry hopes that this movement will create a new momentum for more than 20 other localities to set up volunteer teams for the same purpose in the near future, the official added.

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