China Launches First Methadone Maintenance Pilot Project

December 17, 2001 China Launches First Methadone Maintenance Pilot Project Li Jianhua, Deputy Director of China's Yunnan Institute for Drug Abuse, announced in November 2001 the introduction of a trial methadone maintenance project. The project, which is expected to start next year and last between one to two years, is a direct response to the country's growing HIV problem. There are an estimated 600,000 Chinese infected with the HIV virus, with an estimated 68 percent of the HIV-population having contracted HIV through needle-sharing.  For more information, go to the web site: www3.bc.sympatico.ca . . .