The former head of a Sichuan drug rehabilitation centre has been arrested for allegedly selling methadone for personal profit. The Tianfu Morning Post reported Zhang Xiaocong , former president of the Meiya Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Dujiangyan, and his brother, Zhang Yuehong, were accused of selling more than 92,000 vials of the oral medication between 1999 and last year. The duo reportedly netted a 542,000 yuan profit from the venture. Methadone is often used to relieve severe pain and is also used in treatment programmes for heroin addicts. Its distribution is tightly regulated on the mainland. The men bought the methadone vials from Chengdu Pharmaceutical for 9.38 yuan per bottle and then sold them for seven times that, according to the newspaper. Zhang Xiaocong was arrested in September and his brother taken into custody a month later. The drug rehabilitation centre was shut down by the local drug administration at the end of June last year and fined four million yuan. But the rehabilitation centre has paid only 100,000 yuan of the fine. The local drug administration transferred the case to police after initial investigations revealed the seriousness of the situation.
