Thirty methadone clinics have been opened and so far given medical treatment to 3,000 heroin addicts in anti-AIDS efforts in southwest China's Guizhou province, an official said at an ongoing conference on heroin medical treatment in the province's capital Guiyang.

Guizhou opened its first methadone clinic in 2004 and now has 30 clinics scattering in nine cities and 23 counties in Guizhou, said He Chongyuan, head of the provincial health department.

About 70 percent of the province's total 3,447 HIV carriers were infected with the disease via HIV-contaminated needles used by drug addicts, said He.

Methadone is widely used in the world as a substitute for heroin to help addicts kick their habit, the official said.

The clinics provide long-term treatment to the drug addicts to reduce their dependence on drugs, said the official.

China saw a methadone clinic surge between July and September, during which 206 new clinics were opened.

To date, the country has totally 307 methadone clinics, according to China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The methadone treatment program, which was initiated in 2003, now covers about two thirds of all China's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

In the clinics, the drug addicts have to pay 10 yuan (US$ 1.26) each time for the methadone treatment, no matter how much the methadone is consumed.
The CDC said that by the end of 2007, China plans to set up methadone clinics in all cities and counties where there are more than 500 detected drug users.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2006)