Confession of the defendant who was a 'slave' to drugs for nearly 30 years and successfully quit in prison

From addict to drug dealer
Tho Va Phia (born in 1970), residing in Luu Kien commune, Tuong Duong district, is the third child in a family of 7 siblings. After finishing 2nd grade, Phia dropped out of school and followed his parents to work on the farm. When he reached adulthood, Phia married a girl from the same village. Every day, Phia and his wife mainly work on the farm and raise small animals to earn a living and raise their children.
Life was already difficult, but Phia got involved in opium, which made her economy even more difficult. Accordingly, in 1992, Phia learned the smell of opium, and for yearsaddiction. Later, Phia switched to other drugs such as heroin, "ice"... This man admitted that his addiction made his wife and children depressed.
Not wanting to be a burden to his wife and children, Phia also tried to quit his addiction several times.

Defendant Phia must pay for his crime with a 20-year prison sentence. Photo: Tran Vu

“I have twice decided to quit, but each time I relapsed after only a few months. Both times I quit at home with the support of my wife and children,” Phia said. The fact that the father and husband were addicted to drugs made family life difficult, especially since Phia and his wife had six children.

In 2013, Phia and his wife decided to take their children to Laos to do business. In Ban Hoa village, Muong Pec district, Xieng Khouang province (Laos), Phia and his wife built a small house to live in. Phia said that in addition to farming, the couple also did small business, so life was not too difficult. However, in the land of a million elephants, Phia still could not kick her addiction. And the life of traveling between the two countries was the root cause that led Phia to commit drug-related crimes.
According to the case file, around June 2020, Tho Va Phia was at home when a man named Vu Ba Ho came to see him and asked him to bring drugs to Vietnam to sell. Ho gave Phia 2 quantities of heroin and 2 packages of pink pheasant to sell for 70 million VND, promising to pay 5 million Lao kip (equivalent to nearly 14 million VND). Ho also gave Phia more drugs to use. Phia agreed and received all the drugs hidden in the house.
On July 2, 2020, Phia took the above drugs to a mountainous area in Nam Can commune, Ky Son district, to set up a shack to sell. During July, Phia sold drugs to many addicts with unknown addresses.
On the evening of August 5, 2020, two men of unknown origin came to Phia's shack and gave her 1 package of heroin and 5 packages of opium to sell, and the two sides would calculate the payment later. The next day, when Phia was about to sell drugs to customers, she was arrested by Ky Son District Police. The evidence seized at the shack was many types of drugs with a total weight of nearly 150 grams.
The investigation agency determined that, in addition to the amount of drugs seized, Tho Va Phia also confessed to selling drugs to many subjects. However, because there was no specific name, age, address, and no money was collected, the authorities only processed the amount of evidence seized and concluded the above appraisal.
“Thanks to "going to prison" I was able to successfully quit drugs
During the interrogation in court, the defendant did not deny the crime but admitted to buying and selling drugs. Phia stated that after coming to Vietnam, he set up a camp in the forest to sell drugs to many people. The defendant did not remember who he sold to or how much. Phia admitted that because he was a serious drug addict, he took out drugs many times during his time in the camp. Faced with the verdict of the law, the defendant expressed remorse and asked for a lighter sentence.

Tho Va Phia confessed to being addicted to drugs nearly 30 years before buying and selling this banned substance. Photo: Tran Vu

“Since the day of arrest and detention, the defendant has successfully quit drugs. No longer dependent on drugs, the defendant feels very healthy, and has even gained more weight than before his arrest. This is something that the defendant has tried many ways to do for nearly 30 years.detox"No," Phia said in court.
During the sentencing, Phia shared that during his time in prison, he constantly regretted his actions and felt guilty towards his wife, children and relatives. Because “for the past 30 years, I have not been able to help my family at all, and have made my wife and children sad”, Phia said and hoped to receive the lowest sentence. However, a 20-year prison sentence was handed down to Tho Va Phia for the crime of “Illegal drug trafficking”.
With no relatives present, Phia left the court alone. Because of greed, Phia was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but his successful drug rehabilitation during his detention was a motivation for Phia to reform himself in the hope of reuniting with his wife and children soon, making up for the days he caused his relatives to suffer.