In July 2010, the National Anti-Drug Agency of Malaysia (NADA) introduced a non-punitive system of treatment and care for people who use drugs, voluntary treatment centers (VTCs), called 'Cure & Care' clinics, offering free methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) to opioid-dependent drug users. These centers were opened alongside existing compulsory drug detention centers (CDDCs), where people who use drugs continue to be detained involuntarily without access to evidence-based treatment. Given that both of these programs are operated by NADA but espouse vastly different responses to drug use, we compared health and social outcomes between opioid-dependent individuals recently released from CDDCs and recently initiated into MMT in the new VTCs.