Many drivers who are drug addicts are unable to continue driving their container trucks during a transport trip without using drugs, as a Tuoi Tre investigative report in Ho Chi Minh City has shown.

>> An audio version of the story is available here At 12:00 am on June 6, Tuoi Tre correspondents got on a truck driven by a 24-year-old man called “Dau Hu” (“Ruined Mind”), a nickname given to him by his fellow drivers as he often looks like a mad man because he abuses methamphetamine, a type of synthetic drug.   The truck departed Dong Van Cong Street in District 2 and drove toward the Hanoi Highway, carrying goods to Tan Phu District. As a drug addict, ‘Dau Hu’ had a kit for smoking placed on a small bed behind his seat. When asked why there were no pillows or blankets on the bed, the young man said he did not need them as he could drive many days consecutively without sleep provided he used drugs during his trips. “Dau Hu” said he arrived in the city in 2006 to work as a driver assistant when he was 15 years old. In 2010, “Dau Hu” became an official driver and has since worked as a driver for dozens of transport firms. He admitted that he had no training as a driver, is ignorant of traffic laws, and has not obtained a driver’s license. A long period of driving helped him identify which traffic signboards ban vehicles from traveling on certain streets, he added. Through talking with “Dau Hu,” the Tuoi Tre reporters found that he was a rude man who could assault anyone he disliked. “Dau Hu” said he began to smoke methamphetamine five years ago when he started to work as a truck driver.

Now as a heavy drug addict, “Dau Hu” cannot steer a truck without smoking the synthetic drug before or during his trips, he told Tuoi Tre when his container truck was crossing the Cat Lai flyover to enter the Hanoi Highway.

While driving his container truck, the junkie truck driver stands up and turns back to shout at a woman using obscene words. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Soon after reaching the highway, “Dau Hu” suddenly slowed down, steered to the right side of the road and stopped there. He then stood up from his seat and stepped back on the bed behind to smoke methamphetamine.    “Dau Hu” indulged in the pleasure created by the drugs for about several minutes before returning to his seat to continue his journey. A while after that, “Dau Hu,” through the rear-view mirror, saw a beautiful woman driving a car. He immediately pressed the horn continuously and opened the cabin door with one hand while holding the steering wheel with the other. He then stood up and turned back to shout at the woman with obscene words. At 2:00 am the same morning, “Dau Hu”’s truck reached the Tan Binh Industrial Park in Tan Phu District. During a period of about 90 minutes while waiting for the cargo to be taken out of the container, “Dau Hu” smoked as many as three times inside the cabin of his truck. Later, while returning to Cat Lai Port, he smoked several more times. At 12:00 am on June 9, the Tuoi Tre reporters met “Dau Hu” again at the Hang Xanh intersection in Binh Thanh District, where he was about to carry a container to District 11. After reaching the delivery place, the addict immediately smoked methamphetamine and then told Tuoi Tre that he had driven without sleep for four consecutive days. On June 10, Tuoi Tre contacted “Dau Hu” on the phone and he said that he was still driving. “Without smoking drugs, I could not drive a truck, and whenever I have already smoked, I could not stand not driving,” he said.  “Dau Hu” is one of many similar drivers the Tuoi Tre correspondents contacted during their reporting. Like “Dau Hu,” they are drug addicts and use fake driver’s licenses. According to a report by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, 177 truck drivers tested positive for drugs through health checkups in 2014. Another report by the Ministry of Transport says that 477 truck drivers also tested positive for drugs when they underwent health examinations last year. The city transport authorities said they are coordinating with the local Health Department and Police Department to conduct inspections to identify junkie drivers. The transport department will also propose that the transport ministry include testing for drugs in the health examination process for drivers in the transport sector.  

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