Follow-up programs help addicts rejoin society

Compulsory treatment

Last month, about 207,000 addicts were undergoing compulsory treatment in drug rehabilitation centers across the country run by the judicial authorities, according to the Ministry of Justice.

Those who undergo compulsory treatment in isolated facilities are classified as seriously addicted and unsuitable for rehabilitation in the community. They are treated in closed facilities for two years.

Dong Chen (not his real name) is in a center in Kunming undergoing his fifth detox program. The 45-year-old started taking drugs when he was 20, and in the years that followed he alternated between abstinence and relapsing.

"Once you get addicted, you spend a lifetime struggling with it. It's extremely hard to get rid of the psychological addiction," he said.

Yunnan has the highest number of people undergoing compulsory detoxification in China. Since 2010, centers in the province have received 230,000 addicts, about half of them repeat offenders, according to the provincial rehabilitation administration.

Wang relapsed in 2014, after losing his job in a tobacco factory. He had been working at the plant for three months after leaving rehab, but the company decided to dismiss every staff member with a record of drugs-related offenses.

"I wanted to live my life, but I just couldn't start over again," he said, adding that his girlfriend left him at the same time. Jobless and lonely, he hung out with friends who were drug addicts and began using again. In 2016, he was sent back to the detox center.

Yang, from the Yuxi follow-up program, said, "Even though he had vowed not to use drugs again, it was difficult to remain clean in that environment."

Last year, about 730 people on the program relapsed, accounting for about 43 percent of the total, she said.

Cao Xuejun, director general of the Drug Rehabilitation Administration Department at the Ministry of Justice, said the follow-up programs were launched to facilitate addicts' return to family life and society.

"It's difficult to ascertain the rate of repeat addiction nationally, but generally, the longer people spend outside the detox centers, the more likely they are to relapse," he said.

"The aim of compulsory detoxification is to ensure that former addicts won't take drugs again after returning to society. However, repeat addiction is a complicated problem, involving familial and societal factors. With a job and family support, people are more likely to remain clean," he added.

"Conversely, if their families don't accept them and they become socially isolated, it's easy for them to hang out with drug friends and become addicted again."