Last week, the government announced a mega recapitalisation programme for PSU banks which have been reeling under the impact of rising bad loans. The total amount for the programme is a whopping Rs 2.11 lakh crore, out of which a significant Rs 1.35 lakh crore is via recap bonds. But so far, little is known with respect to the details of these bonds. One recourse is to look at how the government designed the recap bonds last time around, that is in mid 1990s when they were issued.
There was little difference in the treatment outcomes of those taking high-dose methadone or burprenorphine, with heroin addiction treatment success rates ranging from 72.7 percent for those in the methadone group to 20 percent for those patients on a low-dose of methadone.
What most people don't realize is that the majority of long-term, hard-core drug addicts are dying in their 40s and 50s. The latest studies show that the life expectancy of a drug addict is 15 to 20 years after they start being a drug addict. So what we see is a replenishment of the population, a new crop of addicts. There are no 90-year-old heroin addicts. Most of those we were recording 20 years ago have died.