Inside the campus of the rehabilitation center, we met L.V.H from Na Su village, Tìa Dình commune. With a thin build and a low voice when recalling the past, L.V.H recounted a life lost to drugs, explaining that after following friends’ enticement just once, he gradually slid into addiction.

“The consequences of drugs are incomparable to anything else. It caused me to lose everything from health and money to honor. If I had not gotten involved with drugs, perhaps life would have been different,” L.V.H shared.

Being one of the 36 female trainees undergoing rehabilitation at the center, L.T.D from Pá Kha village, Nà Bủng commune, never thought she would become a drug addict. According to her account, after a surgery more than five years ago, she used opium for pain relief and gradually became dependent on it without realizing. Years of living a precarious life caused her life to go downhill and her health to be exhausted.

“When stepping into the rehabilitation center, what I look forward to most is being able to rebuild my life and return to my family as before,” L.T.D said.

Stories like those of L.V.H and L.T.D are just two of many cases paying the price for mistakes related to drugs. Currently, the Drug Rehabilitation Center is organizing treatment for more than 600 trainees, most of whom come from remote and isolated communes in the province. Each person has a different background, ranging from upland farmers and free laborers to those who once held stable jobs.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Lò Văn Bao, Deputy Head of the Drug Rehabilitation Center under the Drug Crime Investigation Police Division of the provincial Police, the unit regularly grasps the psychology of trainees to disseminate and educate them on the law, helping them feel secure during the rehabilitation process.

“The center fully implements five stages, including reception and classification; detoxification treatment, detoxification, treatment of mental disorders, and treatment of other pathologies; education and counseling for behavioral and personality recovery; occupational therapy and vocational training; and preparation for community reintegration. Thereby, it helps trainees gain skills and orientations for community reintegration, limiting relapse after completing the rehabilitation process,” Lieutenant Colonel Lò Văn Bao said.

Many trainees have unstable health and mental states when first received due to prolonged drug use. Therefore, besides physical treatment, the center pays special attention to education and enlightenment to change trainees’ awareness. Meetings, psychological counseling, law dissemination, and life skills education are organized regularly so that trainees clearly understand the consequences of drugs and learn how to control themselves. After a period of living, working, and receiving encouragement, many trainees who used to feel guilty and self-deprecating have gradually become more open, possessing more positive thoughts about the future.

Concurrently, the center maintains occupational therapy, career guidance, and vocational training activities such as bamboo and rattan weaving, wig making, livestock farming, and cultivation, helping trainees practice discipline, form working habits, and prepare for community reintegration.

After completing detoxification treatment, trainee N.T.T from Mường Nhé commune is currently participating in occupational therapy and vocational training. N.T.T said: “Due to dropping out of school early, being unemployed, and being enticed, I became addicted to drugs at the age of 16. Coming here, I am taught wig making. I hope that when I return in the future, I can find a stable job to give peace of mind to my family and become a useful person for society.”

For the cadres on duty at the rehabilitation center, the job is not only about management but also about accompanying, enlightening, and helping trainees regain confidence in themselves. Reality shows that many trainees, after a period of rehabilitation, have gradually changed their awareness, learned to cherish life, and determined not to return to the old path. In the eyes that once held complex feelings of guilt, hope for a brighter tomorrow is now shining through.