The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is considering making methadone treatment compulsory for heroin addicts to thelp them kick the habit.
Methadone is designed to treat narcotic withdrawal, reducing dependence on drugs such as heroin. When administered by trained physicians, it also lowers the risk of contracting diseases through injections.
Chronic heroin addicts may need to use methadone for much of their lives to deal with their addiction.
"Because the experimental methadone program in Tainan and other places is doing well, the ministry is considering promoting a law requiring heroin users to take the methadone program," MOJ Chief Councilor Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) told the Taipei Times.
In a first for the nation, the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office last November launched an experimental methadone program to help heroin users kick the habit.
It worked with the Department of Health (DOH) to promote the "methadone substitution program."
Under the program, heroin addicts who turn themselves in are granted deferred prosecution and can begin a one-year methadone treatment immediately.
Once started, the treatment is compulsory.
Heroin users are obliged to contribute NT$50,000 (US$1,500) to a special fund to help finance the cost of treatment.
After one year, they can decide whether they want to continue a lifetime methadone program at their own expense.
The Tainan District Prosecutors' Office said that methadone is taken once a day and costs about NT$70, which is low compared with supporting a heroin habit that can run up to NT$10,000 a day.
Moreover, methadone's cost could drop to a low NT$20 once Taiwan starts producing the drug.
The methadone treatment program requires addicts to visit a designated hospital or police station to receive their daily dose, the office said.
Chen said that the recidivism for using heroin was more than 90 percent, but the methadone substitution program had been found to be effective internationally.
While the MOJ is still looking for supporting international reports on the methadone program, the DOH supports the program and believes it works, he said.
Under the current law, those arrested for using "first-class" drugs such as heroin and cocaine, or "second-class" drugs such as amphetamines and marijuana, must undergo narcotic treatment at drug abstention and treatment centers for a maximum of one month. Those who are seriously addicted and fail an exam after the one-month treatment must undergo a second treatment, lasting up to a maximum of one year.
The law stipulates that those who've received narcotic treatments one or two times and are arrested again for drug use will be charged under criminal law.
Chen said the ministry has voiced concerns that methadone might be stolen from hospitals easily if not controlled properly and that the budget needed to support a large number of addicts on the program could be big.
Aside from Tainan, the experimental methadone program has been adopted by other district prosecutors' offices in Pingtung, Yunlin, Miaoli and Taoyuan, he said, adding that the Shilin office is about to do the same.
"The effect of methadone can last 24 to 36 hours, allowing heroin addicts to take it once a day and work like normal people," said Tsai Ching-hsiang (
Shilin Prosecutor Lin Zai-pei (林在培), a senior prosecutor focusing on drug crimes, said he and a number of other prosecutors were drafting a methadone bill, which might be completed ahead of the ministry's proposed law.
"We will lobby legislators to support such a bill when the draft is completed," he said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods