Taipei City Hospital’s Songde Branch said that drunk drivers referred to its intervention program by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office are less likely to drive drunk again than those who do not take the program or receive proper medical treatment.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in July 2015 instructed the government-run hospital to come up with solutions to the problem of repeated drunk driving and the Songde Branch was selected to establish a team to work with government agencies and the prosecutors’ office to initiate a medical intervention program for drunk drivers.
About 270 people have attended the hospital’s intervention program since it began, about two-thirds of whom were alcoholics, Huang Ming-chyi (黃名琪), a physician at the Songde Branch’s Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Department, told a news conference.
After completing the intervention program or receiving proper medical treatment, the recidivism rate was less than 3 percent in the first six months and less than 7 percent in the first year, she said.
That compares with a recidivism rate of 18.6 percent in the first year for those who did not complete the program or medical treatment, she said, adding that Ministry of Justice figures on drunk driving showed a recividism rate of approximately 30 percent.
In reviewing each case referred by the prosecutors’ office, the hospital first evaluates the severity of alcohol use and prescribe a program based on clinical guidelines for high-risk alcohol drinking issued by the WHO, it said.
The four main aspects of the program are: educational group sessions, brief intervention to increase patients’ self-awareness and address their motivations for drinking, specialized case management and follow-up care for a year, and medical intervention by psychiatrists and physicians to treat mental issues such as depression, anxiety and insomnia.
Ko said that it is better to treat people with drug or alcohol addictions as patients rather than criminals.
Substance addiction has taken a heavy toll on society and the effect of moral persuasion is limited, he said.
The government must deal with it through comprehensive planning and assistance via medical intervention, he added.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS