"The effects of acupuncture and Chinese medicines have been confirmed to control withdrawal symptoms from opium-like drugs to varying degrees,'' said Professor Hu Jun at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology, Wednesday.

Acupuncture detoxification is based on the theory that the body's natural opioid is retained by drugs, causing addicts have to seek more opioid from narcotics. Through acupuncture on certain acupoints, the body is stimulated to release more opioid which in turn control the pains and help addicts kick drug habits.

Western medicines such as methadone are effective to treat addicts to finish the first six-to-twelve day period -- when the body is still dependent on drugs. But it's quite difficult for addicts to cope with the mental stress of the following several months. The highest reported success rate for quitting drugs altogether is less than 40 per cent after treatment.

In three years, researchers gave treatment of acupuncture and various Chinese medicines to 92 heroin-dependent subjects, who had on average used the narcotic for under 30 months.

The result show that acupuncture and Chinese medicine could help patients return their internal secretions to normal levels, while allowing their nervous and immune systems to recuperate from damage suffered during drug use.

"The main acupoints we use are on the back, waist and four limbs such as Jiaji points,'' explained Hu, who is also director of the Shanghai Drug Reliance Research Centre. "The frequency of electric needles is combined with fast and slow pressure while the amount is stable.''

Addicts undergo 30 minutes of acupuncture every other day, and the treatments last for about three months. The obvious effects are evident after patients have received treatment for one or two weeks and they find their mental reliance on drugs turns gradually under control.

"Compared with medicine treatment such as methadone, the stimulation of needles is limited and can't cause pharmaceutical dependence,'' said Hu. "Besides, its effects are obvious and quick while the methods are cheap and easily applied.''

Other research on the effects of acupuncture on morphine-dependent mice showed that the animal's reliance on drugs is three times higher than those receiving acupuncture treatment.

In China, drugs addicts often suffer from afflictions such as hepatitis, AIDS, and weakened immune system and endocrinal functions. Chinese medicines which produce multiple results can improve the subjects' physical conditions on the whole. Additionally, Chinese medicines have curative effects for treating insomnia, anxiety and other mental disorders during an addict's recovery period.

For more than half a century, acupuncture has been used for detoxification in China. "Detoxification with acupuncture is effective to help drug addicts to give up their habits to some degree, but not completely,'' Hu said.

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