Hundreds of addicts break out of rehab

Vietnamese police hunted hundreds of drug addicts who escaped from a compulsory rehabilitation centre, with some using sticks and fire extinguishers to break out.

The communist government decrees up to two years of forced rehabilitation at government centres to try to reduce drug use. Rights groups have denounced poor conditions at the facilities and mass escapes occur periodically.

More than 500 addicts broke out of a centre in the southern province of Dong Nai late Sunday, leaving the centre in shambles after smashing through concrete walls and windows and breaking down doors.

By Monday morning 300 addicts were still at large and police were searching nearby communities. “We are still hunting them in fields and surrounding areas. Many have caught taxis and left the province,” said a police officer who gave his name as Thanh. “The people here are still very worried.” The Dong Nai rehab centre houses 1,500 people, which is reportedly double its capacity. It houses both voluntary residents and addicts who have been ordered into the facility.

There are more than 200,000 addicts in the country, where heroin use is rampant, with about 13,000 in treatment centres, according to official figures.

Human Rights Watch has denounced the conditions in Vietnam’s rehab centres and a UN expert has recommended they be closed.—