Illicit Drug use in the Asia Pacific Region - Burnet Institute

Situational analysis of illicit drug issues and responses in the Asia–Pacific region
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Literacy % age 15 and over who can read and write: 90 .3% (2002)
Religion Buddhist, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, Christian (predominantly
Roman Catholic, some Protestant), indigenous beliefs,
Muslim
Health Life expectancy:
Male: 67 .86 years
Female: 73 .02 years (2004 est .)
Infant mortality rate: 29 .88 deaths/1000 live births
HIV prevalence: 0 .4% (2003 est .)
Economics GDP: purchasing power parity — $203 .7 billion (2003 est .)
Population living below the national poverty line (%),
1990–2001: 50 .9%
A13 .1 Narrative summary
of drug vulnerabilities
In late the 1980s a wide-ranging policy and
institutional reform process known as doi
moi was introduced . Since then, Vietnam
has experienced a rapid process of social and
economic transformation . While overall there
has been major economic growth and rates
of poverty have declined, approximately onethird
of the population still live in poverty by
international measures . Income and human
well-being disparities have increased substantially,
particularly among the poorest
in the community and between urban and
rural dwellers . Overall, incomes remain low,
and poverty in the mountainous areas, where
social services are few or absent, is recognised
to be extreme . In recent years there has also
been major and increasing migration of
rural dwellers into urban centres in search
of greater income-generating opportunities
(AusAID, 2004b; Ministry of Public Security,
Standing Agency in Drugs Control, 2003;
World Health Organization, 2004c) .
The country has experienced a rapid population
growth, resulting in a disproportionately
large number of adolescents and young
people . Around 30 per cent of the population
is now aged between 12 and 25 years, a
situation likely to persist until at least 2010 .
The large youth population is creating
concerns . Demand for lower and secondary
schooling has increased substantially: ethnic
minorities are often severely disadvantaged —
for instance, 19 per cent of girls from ethnic
minorities have never attended school . The
availability of university places has decreased:
only 14 per cent of those sitting entry examinations
are accepted and those who do attend
university must pay fees (O’Higgins, 2002;
United Nations Country Team, 2004) .
Youth unemployment and under-employment
place a real burden upon the country . Unemployment
in most cities in the late 1990s was
of the order of 26 per cent among 15–19 year
olds seeking jobs . Currently youth unemployment
in most urban centres is 16 per cent,
but nationwide it is estimated to be around
4–8 per cent . In recent years, an estimated
1 .4 million people reached working age each
year at a time when there were already 2 .4
million people unemployed . Young women
are disproportionately disadvantaged, with
a national rate of 7 per cent unemployed,
rising in some urban centres to 18 .5 per cent .
Youth under-employment is also widespread,
with around 4 .7 million youth willing to do
more work, which is not available . Social
pressures on youth have increased in large
cities, are associated with unemployment and
under-employment, and are contributing to
drug use (O’Higgins, 2002; United Nations
Country Team, 2004) .
Adding to these social and economic issues is
Vietnam’s proximity to the Golden Triangle,
combined with its extensive borders with
Cambodia (983 km), China (1281 km), and
Lao PDR (1555 km) and its 3444 kilometres
of coastline — all providing an environment
for easy trafficking of drugs in and out of
Vietnam (Rekart, 2002; United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, 2003b) .
Historical and cultural interactions
with drugs
There is a long history of opium cultivation in
Vietnam among some ethnic minorities in the
mountainous areas of Vietnam (Westermyer
et al ., 1991) . Opium was used not only
medicinally but also as a means to alleviate
hunger . In the early 19th century, British
opium began flooding into southern China
and then into Vietnam . The economic strains
of opium addiction began to show and, in
1820, the Vietnamese monarch outlawed
opium . As in China, this restriction on opium
smuggling from China was unsuccessful .
Colonisation by the French led to the establishment
of an opium franchise and the sale of
opium reaped large profits for the colonisers .
Opium dens were widespread throughout the
country (Le, 1999; McCoy, 1991) .
It has been estimated that 2 per cent of the
entire population were dependent on opium
by 1945, including almost 20 per cent of
the Vietnamese elite . After independence in
1945 the government made serious attempts
to eradicate opium cultivation but, by the
early 1960s, this had proven unsuccessful
(Le, 1999; Nguyen, 1998) . In the late 1950s
there was a strong push to re-open opium
dens in South Vietnam and recommence the
distribution network for smuggled opium .
By the early 1960s, in Saigon’s sister city of
Cholon there were an estimated 2500 opium
dens in operation (McCoy, 1991) .
Patterns of drug use changed during the
American war in Vietnam when opium smoking
and, to a lesser extent, heroin injecting
became a large problem among American
and South Vietnamese soldiers . Most
American soldiers smoked opium rather than
injected heroin; most only started injecting
when they returned to the United States (if
they continued opiate use — most did not)
(Robins & Slobodyan, 2003) . By mid-1971
it was estimated there were more American
heroin users in South Vietnam (81,000) than
in the entire United States (68,000) (McCoy,
1991) . In 1974 it was estimated that in Saigon
alone there were 150,000 drug users . After
the war, heroin use largely disappeared when
drug supplies became scarce, but a small
percentage of Vietnamese continued using
opium (McCoy, 1991; Nguyen, 1998) .
Before 1975 most drug users resided in the
south of Vietnam, particularly in Saigon (renamed
Ho Chi Minh City in 1976) . In the
1980s drug use began to reappear . Some
of those people who had been dependent
before 1975 began appearing at treatment
centres and there was also evidence of
many new drug users . The number of drug
users has continued to increase and they
are now to be found in most provinces .
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Country profiles: Vietnam