Pubdate: Fri, 27 May 2005
Source: China Daily (China)
Contact:   http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/911
Author: Jiang Zhuqing, and Jiao Xiaoyang

BATTLES WON ON DRUGS, BUT WAR RAGES ON

Drugs and drug-related crime in China are still a blot on the Chinese
landscape despite a people's war waged against it a year ago.

In the first four months of the year, China arrested 19,000 people
responsible for 24,000 drug-related criminal cases, said a senior
official with the office of the National Narcotics Control Commission
in Beijing yesterday.

Police seized 3,859 kilograms of heroin, 1,005 kilograms of "ice" and
198,000 tablets of "Ecstasy" in the period, Yang Fengrui, permanent
secretary-general of the commission, said.

Since late April, campaigns have targeted drug prevention, prohibition
and treatment, interception, law enforcement and administrative
measures on chemicals used in making drugs.

By the end of 2004, there were 791,000 registered drug addicts in
China, including 22,000 added last year, statistics from the Ministry
of Public Security indicated.

Comprehensive measures have also been adopted in China for the
rehabilitation of addicts and their treatment and recovery, integrated
with compulsory measures and social help, Yang said.

In 2004, more than 273,000 addicts received treatment at compulsory
rehabilitation centres and 68,000 were treated and
re-education-through-labour centres.

A recent questionnaire in Shanghai, in which 40 per cent of
respondents failed to identify cocaine as a narcotic, has sounded
alarm bells about the drug control situation at the grassroots level.

"The lack of knowhow on drugs among the mass of people spells great
danger in fighting narcotics," said Gu Boping, head of the Huangpu
Work Station under the Shanghai Ziqiang Social Services.

The station surveyed more than 200 random passers-by, 10 per cent of
whom did not regard "ice" as a kind of drug, and 18.5 per cent of whom
did not consider marijuana as one.

Even worse, the station conducted a similar survey among more than 200
college students, of whom 32 per cent did not think cocaine was a drug.

Community volunteers

"Drug education at community level plays an indispensable role in
curbing drug deals and preventing the increase of drug takers," said
Pan Donghai, a social worker at Ziqiang's work station in Shanghai's
bustling Nanjing Road.

Ziqiang's stations send voluntary workers to every residential
building in neighbourhoods to promote drug knowledge, anti-drug
situations and drug-related laws and regulations.

The work stations select key targets in their jurisdiction, usually
entertainment places such as pubs and karaoke bars, and give operators
and workers regular lectures.

"We'll suggest that local business administrations and the police make
education a precondition for these units to get their annual licence
approval," said Pan.

In Beijing, communities and judicial departments have explored new
ways to control the problem.

Qi Yue, who works with a community correction centre in Chongwen
District, said giving up the habit for addicts was hard.

Qi and her colleagues have tried out a correction plan for an addict
and dealer who was jailed for two years then put on probation.

"During the first two months, frequent dialogues and psychological
analysis will be arranged by the centre to help him give up drug
addiction," said Qi.

After two years' supervision, "an assessment will be organized by the
neighbourhood committee and local judicial department to decide
whether or not he qualifies as reformed and able to return to
society," she said.

Like Qi's centre, tens of thousands of communities in cities as well
villages in the countryside have been mobilized for the construction
of drug-free communities, which is aiming to form the main force in
fighting drugs.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin