More than 170,000 drug addicts have undergone methadone therapy to discontinue their addictions since the country introduced the treatment in 2003, a Chinese official said Monday.

Wu Zunyou, director of the National Center for Acquired Immure Deficiency Syndrome(AIDS) and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control and Prevention, said China's methadone replacement therapy was a flagship project that helped China win international credit.

Methadone, a synthesized narcotic developed in Germany in 1937, is far less noxious than morphine hydrochloride. It can be used as a substitute for drugs such as heroine to help addicts wean off their addictions.

It has been widely recognized that promoting methadone replacement therapy can effectively curb the spread of AIDS.

China has reduced the number of people affected with AIDS by more than 3,300 and cut the consumption of heroine by nearly 16.5 tonnes through the therapy this year, according to the official.

China now has 558 clinics that provide cheap methadone to drug addicts. In 2004, the number of methadone clinics was five.

(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2008)