Guizhou offers extra help to former drug addicts

Southwest China's Guizhou province will provide support to those leaving drug rehabilitation centers to ensure all of them become employed or otherwise properly settled, Guizhou's Public Security Bureau said on Oct 16.

A "seamless bond" of aid will be offered to all rehabilitated drug addicts, beginning with shortly before they are to be released from the centers until they are re-employed and reintegrated into society, said Zhao Xiang, vice-director of the bureau.

The complete chain of aid can help create a healthy environment in communities with drug rehabilitation facilities to reduce the chance of reoccurring drug abuse among those at the rehabilitation centers and help them to quit drug once and for all, according to the bureau.

Rehabilitation centers in Guizhou must provide vocational training to inmates three months before they are released and recommend qualified inmates to suitable local enterprises for employment. The government should provide preferential policies such as low-interest loans to those willing to start their own business, Zhao said.

Those who have lost the ability to work or fail to get a job should be covered by the government's basic-subsidy and medical-insurance programs. Further treatment, such as medication and behavior modification, should be applied to addicts not responding to treatment, he said.