Each morning at Taksin Hospital in downtown Bangkok, heroin addicts trying to kick the habit show up in droves for a daily dose of methadone. Nurses hand out tin cups filled with the yellow syrup and then watch them gulp it down. Thailand remains one of the few countries in Asia that has a widespread methadone substitution program for heroin users, but even here, users complain about its shortcomings: A 45-day limit, with a dosage that steadily tapers off during the treatment. While the country has had great success stemming the spread of the virus in sex workers and the general population, the prevalence in injecting drug users stubbornly has remained at about 50% for more than a decade. |
