NO PAIN NO GAIN, ESTABLISHING THE KUNMING, CHINA, DRUG REHABILITATIONCENTER

The Yunnan Province in China may be experiencing the highest incidence of heroin use in China, in part because of its proximity to the Golde n Triangle. This high incidence, as elsewhere, threatens to increase a ssociated problems in China including the spread of HIV. Furthermore, the high purity of heroin used in this Province leads to rapid addicti on and increased difficulties in treating the symptoms of withdrawal. One response to this epidemic is the development and implementation of the Kunming Drug Rehabilitation Center. The Center, with a capacity f or 620 addicts, is grounded in a recovery-oriented perspective that is based on the Therapeutic Community model and modified for the Yunnan Province and China. It is referred to as the Kunming Model and is know n for the development of its own medicine for detoxification and its i ndividualized psychological, psychiatric, medical, and biosocial progr am. Similarities and differences between the Kunming Center and treatm ent programs in the United States are discussed and implications for u niversal approaches to drug treatment are addressed.