DUSHANBE , June 6, Asia-Plus - A role of acupuncture as one of forms of treatment for drug-dependency is being discussed in Dushanbe .   

According to information from the DDRP (Drug Demand reduction Program) Dushanbe Office, a training seminar for trainers on this subject was launched in the Tajik capital yesterday.  During 12 days specialists in acupuncture from Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will be instructed in using acupuncture in the field of narcology.  Skilled acupuncture therapists from St. Petersburg Yuri Usenko and Pavel Varnakov, who have both Russian and NADA (the New-York-based National Acupuncture Detoxication Association), have been invited to conduct the seminar.  

The seminar is conducted under the USAID-funded Drug Demand Reduction Program (DDRP), which is being implemented in Tajikistan by Tajik Branch of Open Society Institute/Assistance Foundation (OSI/AF).  

The source says the main objective of the training is in instructing its participants in new methods of acupuncture worked out by the NADA specialists.  “After taking the training course participants in the seminar will be able to disseminate the obtained knowledge and conduct the same seminars for specialists in their countries and regions,” the source said.  

For the first time, this method was presented in Tajikistan in 2004, according to the source.