The Department of Health (DOH) will ask hospitals and medical institutions that provide substitution therapy to narcotic addicts to watch out for drug-peddling activities near their facilities, a department official said on Monday.
Chou Chih-hao (周志浩), deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control, was responding to reports by the Chinese-language China Times that 50 hospitals and medical institutions around the nation in which the department offers methadone have become favorite spots for drug dealers to peddle their products, knowing that they can easily find a large number of drug addicts there.
The reports also said some patients take heroin in the hospital right after taking methadone.
Chou said that methadone is a progressive substitution for drugs such as heroin that allows addicts to cut their dependence and eventually give up the drug.
During the process, addicts do not have to buy expensive heroin, which eases their financial burden and helps reduce drug-related crime, he said.
He noted that since the DOH started offering methadone therapy in August 2005, the number of drug addicts involved in the program has increased to more than 6,500 from the original 1,100.
In addition, patients drink methadone, instead of taking it intravenously, which lessens the frequency of sharing needles and spreading AIDS, he said.
Statistics show that after the program was put into practice, new cases of AIDS reported were cut by 40 percent, he said.
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