TRADITIONAL WAYS TO TREAT ADDICTION

SHANGHAI: Local researchers of traditional Chinese medicines are exploring
more effective and cheaper methods to rehabilitate drug addicts.

"The effects of acupuncture and Chinese medicines have been confirmed to
control withdrawal symptoms from opium-like drugs to varying degrees," said
professor Hu Jun at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and
Pharmacology, yesterday.

Acupuncture detoxification is based on the theory that the body's natural
opioid is retained by drugs, causing addicts have to seek more opioid from
narcotics. Through acupuncture on certain acupoints, the body is stimulated
to release more opioid which in turn control the pains and help addicts kick
drug habits.

Western medicines such as methadone are effective to treat addicts to finish
the first six-to-twelve day period - when the body is still dependent on
drugs. But it's quite difficult for addicts to cope with the mental stress
of the following several months. The highest reported success rate for
quitting drugs altogether is less than 40 per cent after treatment.

In three years, researchers gave treatment of acupuncture and various
Chinese medicines to 92 heroin-dependent subjects, who had on average used
the narcotic for under 30 months.

The results show that acupuncture and Chinese medicine could help patients
return their internal secretions to normal levels, while allowing their
nervous and immune systems to recuperate from damage suffered during drug
use.

"The main acupoints we use are on the back, waist and four limbs such as
Jiaji points," explained Hu, who is also the director of the Shanghai Drug
Reliance Research Centre. "The frequency of electric needles is combined
with fast and slow pressure while the amount is stable."

Addicts undergo 30 minutes of acupuncture every other day, and the
treatments last for about three months. The obvious effects are evident
after patients have received treatment for one or two weeks and they find
their mental reliance on drugs turns gradually under control.

"Compared with medicine treatment such as methadone, the stimulation of
needles is limited and can't cause pharmaceutical dependence," said Hu.
"Besides, its effects are obvious and quick while the methods are cheap and
easily applied."

For dozens of years, acupuncture has been used for detoxification in China.
"Detoxification with acupuncture is effective to help drug addicts to give
up their habits to some degree, but not completely," Hu said.