Acupuncture treatment of drug dependence in Pakistan.

Wen's technique of electro-acupuncture was used successfully for treatment of withdrawal symptoms of 19 drug abusers. The drug common to all was opium (eating as well as smoking). Other drugs were amphetamine, methaqualone (mandrax) and barbiturates by mouth and cannabis (charas) smoking. The sample of the study is too small to draw statistical conclusions, but it is worth stating that all the cases showed a definite response to electro-acupuncture and that their withdrawal symptoms, especially those of opium, were controlled within 30 minutes of the application. The need for subsequent treatment varied, but all patients were symptom free and chemical free on the 6th-8th day of treatment. Thus, the period of active treatment was much shorter than that with codeine substitution therapy. It appears obvious that electro-acupuncture is an effective, simple and more economical method for the detoxification of opiate dependents.