1、Foreword

The Executive Yuan in 1994 officially declared war on drugs. On May 20th, 1998 the “Narcotic Elimination Act” was amended and promulgated as the “Drug Prevention and Control Act”, which emphasized the concept “treatment comes before punishment and medicine comes before jurisdiction”, meaning that drug abusers must first be put under observation and sometimes even receive compulsory rehabilitation. Drug abuser criminal policies thus entered a new era. Under this background, the Drug Abuse Abstention Center was established on May 22nd, 1998 in coordination with execution of the Drug Prevention and Control Act to carry out observation and rehab operations.

2、Admission Subjects

Those found by police organizations in the Hualien area to have used first grade drugs or second grade drugs will be brought to the prosecutor’s office. After being interrogated by the prosecutor on the police written investigation, the prosecutor will send a petition to the court for a rehabilitation penalty if necessary. If the court decides to execute the rehabilitation penalty, he/she will be brought to the Drug Abuse Abstention Center of Hualien Detention House (or Juvenile Detention House) for observation.

People under observation found to have no tendency towards continued drug abuse after professional evaluation, will be released after being reported to the District Public Prosecutors Office and papers for release are signed. Whereas those found with tendency towards continued drug abuse will be transferred to Hualien Rehab Institution for compulsory rehabilitation.

3、Edification, Education, and Guidance

（1）Edification and Education

We have signed a contract for observation and rehab medical cooperation with health and medical institutions of the Hualien area. A team of psychiatrists comes every week to perform “acute detoxification related medical measures” and “evaluation of continued drug abuse tendency”.  Nursing personnel of Hualien County Health Bureau are invited to regularly assist activities, such as health education and guidance, the Drug Harm Reduction Project, and Understanding AIDS.

（2）Guidance

Based on the Ministry of Justice’s “Ministry of Justice 40 day observation and rehab process through subordinate detention houses, juvenile detention houses and their subsidiary drug abuse abstention centers”, we have utilized resources of universities in Hualien and recruited enthusiastic volunteers to provide detoxification guidance, religious education, health education, law education, humanistic education, and career guidance. This is done to provide inmates with spiritual support, assist their psychological reconstruction, enhance their health awareness and detoxification techniques, and provide them with information on the center; also, volunteers help inmates correct concepts that have been perverted, calm their anxiety, and help them find the correct way to solve problems. Furthermore, the determination of inmates to quit drugs is strengthened through individual and collective counseling.

4、Medical Measures

Our subsidiary Drug Abuse Abstention Center performs regular health examinations on all inmates and provides appropriate treatment for those that are sick. New inmates are immediately hospitalized if severe withdrawal symptoms appear. If withdrawal symptoms appear upon admission, the inmate will be diagnosed by one of our doctors with contract, and a prescription will be written to assist detoxification. If withdrawal symptoms are severe, the inmate will be sent to a hospital for safety.

5、Conclusion

Our observation and rehab operations are carried out to help drug abusers successfully return to the society and adapt to social life. Our growth management combined with social resource utilization and operations implemented according to a management concept standardized again and again, enhances the risk management and crisis management abilities of our staff. In the future, we will continue to establish new correction teams based on our core values, which are innovation, positive attitude, gathering professionals, responsibility, and enthusiasm. The public’s perception and expectations will be used as indicators of our correction operations, so that all operations will continue to improve and not let anyone down.