Difficulty in identifying drug addiction

Lack

The facilities of Hung Dao Commune Health Station (Tu Ky) are currently quite spacious, basically meeting the needs of medical examination and treatment for the people. However, to carry out the task of determining drug addiction status, the station still faces difficulties. Doctor Nguyen Duy Cuong, Head of Hung Dao Commune Health Station shared: "For about a year now, the station has not been provided with drug testing kits. The station also does not have any drugs to treat drug addiction. As far as I know, this is a common situation, not unique to the station."

Along with the above shortage, the regulation on monitoring time to determine the state of drug withdrawal is a maximum of 5 days. Meanwhile, the police headquarters and medical stations of most commune-level facilities do not ensure the regulations on temporary detention according to administrative procedures, so they cannot carry out this work. Major Pham Quy Duong, Chief of Ninh Giang Town Police, said: "Due to the difficult facilities and some other conditions, it is impossible to carry out the 6-step process to determine the state of addiction in the locality. This work must be carried out at provincial-level medical facilities."

Currently, each commune-level health station usually has only one person qualified to diagnose addiction but still has to perform many other professional tasks. This team also does not really have enough professional capacity and experience to handle withdrawal syndrome in monitoring and evaluating patients. Many health workers have not practiced in practice, have not participated in training, have not updated new knowledge on diagnosing addiction, and have not determined the addiction status of synthetic drug addicts.

According to statistics from the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department (Provincial Police), the province currently has 227 medical facilities qualified to determine drug addiction status. Due to lack of human resources and some conditions, 23 communes, wards and towns are not yet allowed to perform this work.

Early removal

According to the Department of Health, the Government has issued regulations for provincial budget allocation to determine drug addiction status. However, up to now, our province has not assigned specific units to make a budget plan to meet this task. Therefore, the staff involved in determining drug addiction status have not received financial support. The units also do not have funds to buy testing kits, consumables... to regularly equip medical facilities with the conditions for diagnosis. In many cases, the staff performing this work must use personal money to buy testing kits and some related costs...

Also due to the lack of specific regulations, the management and determination of drug addiction status is currently limited. This work can only be done for those who comply and volunteer, and it is very difficult to manage those who are homeless. These cases, after being brought to a drug rehabilitation facility to determine their addiction status, within 5 days they can choose the appropriate form of drug addiction treatment, either voluntary or compulsory. However, during this time, the law has not yet specified where to manage drug addicts, leading to confusion for drug rehabilitation facilities and commune-level authorities. Some authorities, after imposing administrative penalties on illegal drug users, do not notify the local authorities or are late, leading to difficulties in establishing management records, sometimes not being able to do so.

According to Lai Cach Town Police, another difficulty that the local authorities are facing is that recently, many people using and addicted to drugs from northern mountainous provinces such as Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Son La, Ha Giang... have returned to work and live in the locality. However, the coordination and sharing of information on drug addiction in the localities has not been timely. Many cases of drug users constantly changing their residence make it difficult to manage, grasp and determine their addiction status. This poses a potential risk of causing insecurity and disorder in the area.

In order to effectively identify and manage drug addicts, contributing to ensuring security and order, the Department of Health recommends that the province soon approve the regulations for coordinating the identification of drug addiction in the area; assign the staff unit to develop a budget plan to pay for the regime for officials participating in diagnosis, arrange funds to buy test kits, and consumables. Regularly train to improve professional skills for medical staff and doctors. Increase investment in facilities for medical stations to ensure adequate conditions and do a good job of identifying addiction status...