Substance dependence treatment interventions: why we continue to fail people who use drugs in Asia

Substance use disorders contribute to a large number of preventable deaths in Asia; a majority of the negative health consequences are associated with opioid use. User friendly and effective drug dependence treatment is limited.

Factors mediating drug user treatment outcomes in Asia are explored, with a focus on opioid use. Individual, programmatic, and legal/political issues which reduce the impact of drug user treatment are noted.

Criminalization of drug users, inadequate insurance, chronic underinvestment, and an overall lack of therapeutic options create structural barriers for treatment for users and providers. The practice of detention as drug treatment serves to fracture the treatment alliance. At the individual level, extreme poverty and the lack of a social protection network mediate against the achievement of treatment goals.

A range of factors has a bearing on processes and outcomes of drug user treatment. Acknowledging and addressing them, at each level, is fundamental to delivering useful interventions for people who use drugs.