Addiction medicine in Chiang Mai — the places, named plainly
Northern Thailand is, quietly, somewhere people come to get treatment for addiction. This page is a map of the places, not a review of them: it ranks nothing and recommends nothing — each facility speaks for itself. It is substance-agnostic and judgment-free; whatever brought you here, the vocabulary and the questions below work the same.
Not medical advice — Defiant is a concierge, not a clinic, and treatment decisions belong to you and clinicians. Nothing here evaluates any approach or predicts any outcome.
The shape of what exists
Two kinds, broadly:
Private residential facilities. Defiant's mapped directory (nightly OpenStreetMap refresh) currently carries four named addiction-medicine residentials in the North and beyond. Contact details below are what the map itself carries — source: OpenStreetMap.
| Facility | Where | Contact (per OpenStreetMap) |
|---|---|---|
| Dawn Rehab | Chiang Mai | — |
| The River Rehab | Chiang Mai | +66 95 687 1017 · theriverrehab.com |
| Siam Rehab | Mae Chan, Chiang Rai | +66 97 943 6477 · siamrehab.com |
| Rehab Scandinavia | Chonburi | rehabscandinavia.com |
The state and hospital route. Chiang Mai's public psychiatric hospital, Suan Prung, operates a rehabilitation centre (ศูนย์ฟื้นฟูสมรรถภาพ, on the map as Suan Prung Rehabilitation Center) — the public-system entry point, in Thai. McKean Rehabilitation Center (สถาบันแมคเคนฯ, mckeanhosp.org), the century-old mission institution south of the city, carries "rehabilitation" in its very name; what its rehabilitation services cover today is a question for its own pages, which we have not yet read (see below).
The words to know
- บำบัด (bambat) — treatment, therapy. The umbrella word; ศูนย์บำบัด is
- เลิกเหล้า (loek lao — literally "quit liquor") — to stop drinking.
- ยาเสพติด (ya sep tit — literally "drug one is stuck to") — narcotics,
- ศูนย์ฟื้นฟู (sun fuen fu) — rehabilitation centre; ฟื้นฟู is
a treatment centre.
The plain, everyday phrase; you will see it on public-health posters.
addictive drugs. ศูนย์บำบัดยาเสพติด is a drug-treatment centre.
"restore/rehabilitate" and also names Suan Prung's unit above.
What to ask any facility
Questions, not endorsements — the same list works at every facility:
1. Licensing. What license does the facility hold, from which Thai authority, and will they show it in writing? 2. Medical supervision. Who is medically responsible on site — physicians, nurses — at what hours, and what is the arrangement with the nearest hospital? 3. Detox handling. If medically supervised withdrawal is part of your situation, where does it physically happen and under whose care? 4. Aftercare. What happens after discharge — follow-up structure, coordination with a provider at home? 5. The full price, itemised, in writing — ask this of every facility on this site.
What we have not read yet
Every named facility above is on this page because it is on the map — not because we have completed a sourced read of its own website. Pending first-hand reads, the same treatment the diabetes page got: Dawn Rehab, The River Rehab, Siam Rehab, Rehab Scandinavia, Suan Prung's rehabilitation centre, and McKean Rehabilitation Center. Until each read is done, this page states only what the map states and lets each facility describe itself.
FAQ
Which facility is the best one?
This page does not rank facilities and will not — it ranks nothing and recommends nothing. The useful work is matching your specific situation (medical needs, language, budget, duration) against what each facility states about itself, and asking the questions above. That matching is a conversation, not a league table.
Does treatment in Thailand work in English?
The private residentials listed above market internationally; the state route via Suan Prung runs in Thai. Language is one of the first questions to ask any facility directly — and interpreters are a thing Defiant does.
Can Defiant arrange the logistics around treatment?
The travel, visa, interpreter, and paperwork layer — yes; that is what a concierge is. The clinical choice stays between you and the facility. Message us or see what the concierge costs.
What if I just need the medical system, not a residential program?
Then start at the hospital guide — psychiatric and internal medicine departments are ordinary places to start, and เลิกเหล้า / ยาเสพติด are words every information desk understands.
Reviewed 26 Aug 2026 by the Defiant team · every price is confirmed in writing before you book.