The Khánh Hoà model: A case study of voluntary community-based drug treatment in provincial Vietnam

For almost three decades, compulsory detention has shaped Vietnam's response to illicit drug use. Each year, up to 60,000 people who use drugs (PWUD) are confined in Compulsory Drug Detention and Rehabilitation Centres (CDDRCs), despite not being charged with or convicted of criminal offences. Detention is justified through a moral framework that categorises drug use as a 'social vice', subordinating health needs to judgements of individual character. In 2013, the Vietnamese government introduced the Renovation Plan for Drug Treatment, promoting a shift toward voluntary, community-based treatment (VCBT). Pilot programmes were implemented in Bắc Giang, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu and Khánh Hoà provinces. This paper draws on research conducted in these early implementing sites between 2016 and 2017. Focusing on Khánh Hoà, the paper examines the emergence of community-based services developed through collaboration between government and non-government actors. It assesses alignment with the Renovation Plan and considers implications for reducing reliance on compulsory detention and for understanding the practical operation of procedural safeguards under the reform process. Receiving attention from government and policy stakeholders during the early implementation period, the Khánh Hoà experience highlights both the possibilities and limitations of reform within an entrenched detention system.