Landlocked between China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, Laos’ location in the Golden Triangle places it in the midst of an area high in synthetic drug production and trafficking. Remote border crossings and poor police checks means drugs are cheap and available. Methamphetamine – commonly consumed with caffeine in pressed pills known as “yaba” – can cost as little as US$0.25.
While drug production in the Golden Triangle has historically been opium, drug producers there are increasingly shifting from labour-intensive poppy cultivation to faster and cheaper synthetic substances, like methamphetamine, since the beginning of the 21st Century.
Following a meeting this year in June, the Lao government showed a commitment to tackle the “drug problem” in Laos, stating drug control to be a “top national priority”. In November, the Laotian National Assembly met with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to draft the country’s National Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2026-2030.
While not yet fully published, a draft of the Development Plan outlines the country’s socio-economic vision for the future. Within it, the state recognises that “social negative phenomena” linked to drugs – from addiction, theft, trafficking and “other disruptive activities” – persist and require coordinated interventions.
This Development Plan exists alongside a National Agenda for Drug and Precursor Chemical Control (originally ending in 2023, but extended to 2025), which outlines the state’s plan to emphasise preventive education, treatment, alternative development and law enforcement activities. Within treatment, the national agenda states that psychological and physical support is already being provided to people with drug addictions, in addition to having established 14 treatment and rehabilitation centres, as well as 28 community based drug treatment centres.
Investments in treatment
In July of this year, the governments of Laos and Vietnam opened a brand new treatment and rehabilitation centre in Vientiane, which aims to treat and rehabilitate people struggling with drug addiction, hoping to help people permanently overcome them and prevent future relapses. The centre will also offer job training opportunities, as well as social re-integration programmes. The centre is expected to accommodate up to 500 people, with a number of support facilities for its residents and visitors.
Treatment is also expanding beyond the capital. In June, the southern province of Salavan opened its first drug rehabilitation centre, converting an old COVID-19 treatment facility into a space offering treatment and reintegration for up to 350 patients. This development has come after the recognition from provincial authorities that holding people in detention centres with inadequate conditions was both ineffective and immoral. The centre was portrayed as an alternative to detention centres which are commonly used for people addicted to drugs – although it’s still unclear whether new patients will come voluntarily or under compulsory treatment sentences.
There are also reports of a new centre opening in the Sekong province, in addition to upgrades of centres in Phongsaly, Xieng Khouang, and Savannakhet provinces.
Harsh punishment and treatment options
Punishment for drug use is severe in Laos, with zero-tolerance policies in place: drug prevention and control have been part of Laos’ “national agenda” since 2021 – mostly defined as harsh crackdowns on drugs. Drug trafficking is met with harsh sentences: the death penalty still exists for selling, although no one has been executed since 1989. Nonetheless, around 90% of those on death row in 2023 were there for drug-related offences.
Despite drug laws stating those using drugs should be treated as patients, those seeking treatment must do so in harsh conditions. A 2010 report revealed the extensive use of compulsory drug detention and treatment centres in Laos as a response to growing concern around yaba use in the mid-2010s. From 2012 and 2018, the Government almost doubled the number of compulsory treatment centres operating in Laos, from 9 to 17.
While operating as treatment centres, there were concerning stories of human rights abuses around them. Police round up people using methamphetamine and send them to centres with no legal process; family or community members also send them there, hoping they would receive treatment. But centres were staffed with poorly qualified people, cramped holding cells and archaic treatment techniques (involving beatings, intense exercise or unmedicated drug withdrawals), with most held indefinitely.
International organisations, like UNAIDS, have condemned the treatment of Laotians who use drugs for over a decade, calling for in-community voluntary treatment centres instead. This call was renewed in 2020, supported by 13 other UN agencies, requesting the immediate release of detainees and their reintegration into society. Laotian officials have argued that not killing those on death row and the release of a nominal few prisoners were concessions enough.
New direction for drug treatment in Laos?
News of a new drug treatment centre is cautiously optimistic, and perhaps a state-wide recognition that drug harms cannot be just met with punishment. Yet given Laos’ historical approach to drug treatment, it’s normal to be suspicious of whether more treatment centres may actually bring improvements to patients’ lives. With much of the political conversation on tackling the nation’s “drug problem” still revolving around arrests and drug seizures, it’s unlikely we’ll see a sudden change of heart in how those at the bottom will be treated any differently now.
Speaking to Latt Thiri Aung, the Secretariat Coordinator at Southeast Asia Harm Reduction Association (AHRA), she shared similar reservations about new rehabilitation centres.
“Expanding support options can be positive when services are voluntary, community-based, and grounded in health rather than punishment. For people who do need structured support, access to ethical and evidence-based care is important.
At the same time, research consistently shows that the majority of people who use drugs do not require formal treatment, and only a small proportion — estimated at under 10% — benefit from specialised clinical care for dependency. For most people, health education, social support, and harm reduction are more appropriate and cost-effective.
It is therefore crucial that any new centres operate voluntarily, offer evidence-based care, and are integrated into wider health and social systems rather than functioning as compulsory institutions.
When individuals worry about arrest or compulsory detention, they often avoid services altogether. Strengthening voluntary, low-threshold support would significantly improve outcomes”.
Aung also spoke of the challenges Laos face to reduce drug-related harms:
“The biggest challenges are structural: limited access to health and social support, economic pressures, stigma, and policies that prioritize enforcement over prevention.
Evidence from the region shows that when people can access respectful, voluntary services – including harm reduction and psychosocial support – health and community safety improve. This is particularly important in border provinces, where mobility and limited services heighten vulnerability.
A balanced path for Laos would include scaling up harm reduction as a priority, alongside voluntary treatment for the relatively small proportion of people who genuinely require clinical support for drug dependence, strengthening social and economic support systems, and ensuring policies are aligned with established evidence and human rights standards. Approaches grounded in public health, autonomy and dignity consistently deliver far better outcomes than detention-based or otherwise coercive models.”
As international bodies continue to press Laos to meet higher human-rights standards, punitive approaches like compulsory detention can no longer be allowed to fly under the radar. The new rehabilitation centres opened this year, allegedly offering an alternative path to what’s been done before, may be a genuine effort to build systems that support people to address their drug problems in a supportive, rather than punitive, way. But a deeper change, where all drug use isn’t seen as addiction and requiring intensive and compulsory arrest, is sorely needed.
