These WHO guidelines are designed to assist staff of closed settings to provide safe and effective withdrawal management and treatment services for people who use drugs in the Western Pacific Region. It provides information about drugs and drug dependence; the management of drug withdrawal; and approaches to treatment for drug dependence. For the purposes of this document, "closed settings" refers to prisons, work camps, compulsory drug treatment centres and any other institution in which people are detained.

These guidelines take a public health approach to drug use and dependence. This approach recognizes that the health of one individual affects the health of the community.

The WHO Western Pacific Regional Office recognizes that incarceration of people who use drugs is a reality in the region, despite the fact that it is not an appropriate solution for the use of drugs or for the health of people who use drugs. Therefore, the reality imposes the need for these transitional guidelines of appropriate drug treatment in anticipation of better solution for the drug problem in the region.

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