QUJING, China-In China, marijuana is seen as a dangerous narcotic, and possession is strictly punished. That hasn't stopped the country from trying to become a powerhouse in the fast-growing industry for cannabis products. China has grown hemp, a strain of cannabis, for thousands of years to use in clothing and traditional medicine and is one of the world's largest hemp producers. The country is using that foothold to churn out cannabidiol, or CBD, a loosely regulated chemical related to marijuana that is finding its way into products as diverse as bath bombs and pet food. [continues 910 words]
An association between weed and the dead turns out to have been established long before the 1960s and far beyond a certain ur-band's stomping grounds in San Francisco. Researchers have identified strains of cannabis burned in mortuary rituals as early as 500 B.C., deep in the Pamir mountains in western China, according to a new study published Wednesday. The residue had chemical signatures indicating high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's most psychoactive, or mood-altering, compound. [continues 1030 words]
SHANCHONG, China - China has made your iPhone, your Nikes and, chances are, the lights on your Christmas tree. Now, it wants to grow your cannabis. Two of China's 34 regions are quietly leading a boom in cultivating cannabis to produce cannabidiol, or CBD, the nonintoxicating compound that has become a consumer health and beauty craze in the United States and beyond. They are doing so even though cannabidiol has not been authorized for consumption in China, a country with some of the strictest drug-enforcement policies in the world. [continues 1187 words]
State-run Chinese media have expressed skepticism that the country is a key source of fentanyl, despite an agreement with the RCMP that was seen as a tacit admission of China's role in fuelling the unfolding overdose crisis in Canada. A Globe and Mail investigation last year revealed how fentanyl is manufactured in China and how easily it is shipped to Canada, and border officials here have intercepted dozens of such shipments. Last November, the RCMP announced an agreement with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security to stem illicit fentanyl exports, citing recent seizures of fentanyl and carfentanil, an even stronger opioid, that originated in China. [continues 471 words]
Forced Recuitment? With China developing an appetite for marijuana, methamphetamine and other illicit substances, Chinese authorities are looking to stars as front-line soldiers in the battle against drugs. BEIJING - Imagine if, after arresting a wave of celebrities on drug charges, U.S. government officials pressed the heads of major Hollywood studios, A-list actors, recordlabel chiefs and chart-topping singers to sign promises that they would stay away from vices such as drugs, pornography and gambling. Simultaneously, substance-abusing performers found their films shut out of cinemas, forcing producers into hasty reshoots and re-edits, and news media began running editorials criticizing top directors for failing to inform on associates they had seen smoking pot or taking Ecstasy. [continues 940 words]
Imagine if, after arresting a wave of celebrities on drug charges, American government officials pressed the heads of major Hollywood studios, A-list actors, record-label chiefs and chart-topping singers to sign promises that they would stay away from vices like drugs, pornography and gambling. Simultaneously, substance-abusing performers found their films shut out of cinemas, forcing producers into hasty re-shoots and re-edits. And news media began running editorials criticising top directors for failing to inform on associates they had seen smoking pot or taking ecstasy. [continues 1047 words]
Beijing Turns Blind Eye to Chemists Whose Drugs Mimic Banned Substances At midnight in a Shanghai laboratory, a Chinese chemist who called himself Terry was eager to close the deal. In the lab itself, a bright yellow liquid whirred around in a flask, an intense smell of fumes leaving a bitter aftertaste. "Let's just be quick," he shouted. "Tell me what you want, how much you want, then we can talk about price, we can talk about shipment." "Terry" is not the only rogue Shanghai chemist looking to make a living from the surging global trade in "legal highs". China has long been the workshop of the world, for everything from iPhones to Christmas tree lights. So it was only a matter of time, perhaps, before it filled the same role for drugs, churning out huge quantities of the synthesised products for recreational use in clubs and streets across the western world. [continues 1069 words]
BEIJING - The son of action comedy star Jackie Chan pleaded guilty Friday to providing a venue for drug users, one of thousands caught up in a widespread crackdown on illegal drugs in the capital. Jaycee Chan was sentenced in a courtroom in the Chinese capital to six months in prison and a fine of about $322. The 32-year-old was detained in his Beijing apartment in August, along with 23-year-old Taiwanese movie star Ko Chen-tung, known as Kai Ko, among others. Ko was released after a 14-day administrative detention for drug use. [continues 263 words]
With his son's drug charges generating headlines, Chinese star Jackie Chan said he felt shamed by his son's behaviour and hoped he will behave in the future. On Monday, Jackie Chan's son Jaycee Chan was prosecuted in Beijing for allegedly providing a venue for drug users, according to the People's Procuratorate of Beijing's Dongcheng District. The prosecution came three months after he was formally arrested following a drugs bust at his residence in the capital. "I hope that in the future, he could become an anti-drug spokesman and tell his experiences to young people," Jackie Chan said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua Wednesday. [continues 134 words]
BEIJING: A number of Australians are facing the death penalty in China after being charged with serious drug offences. The Department of Foreign Affairs said an unspecified number of Australians had been detained, but it would not reveal any further detail on specific cases. "We are aware that a number of Australians have been detained in China on serious drug charges," it said. "These individuals are receiving appropriate consular assistance." Government sources would not say how many Australians had been arrested but that a "number" of Australians have been charged over drug offences since late last year, although they had not yet been through the full judicial process. [continues 134 words]
As Legalisation of Marijuana Spreads, Chinese Companies Have the Patents Ready to Exploit New Markets Almost 5000 years ago, Chinese physicians recommended a tea made from cannabis leaves to treat a wide variety of conditions, including gout and malaria. Today, as the global market for marijuana experiences an unprecedented boom after moves to legalise, it is China that again appears to have set its eyes on dominating trade in the drug. The communist country is well placed to exploit the burgeoning cannabis trade with more than half of the patents relating to or involving cannabis originating in China. [continues 870 words]
Hong Kong's ' happening' crowd may not see why it should be banned from smoking a joint, but the city's drug boss sees things another way On a quiet beach, as night deepens, a group of campers kick back, relax ... and commit a crime that could cost them a HK$ 1million fine and seven years in prison. The campers are no Bill and Ted-style loveable losers. The Hollywood archetype of the stoner doesn't fit this group of Hong Kong twenty- and thirty-somethings. They move in a world full of fellow high- achievers and respectable contributors to society: teachers, bankers, lawyers, doctors, insurance salesmen, mothers, jewellery designers, who all like to toke. [continues 1231 words]
Addicts learn to help themselves by helping and supporting each other Members of the public got a rare insight on the weekend into how the capital rehabilitates its drug addicts. It was the first time that the public security bureau had opened the doors to the Sunflower community center within the Compulsive Addiction Treatment Center of Beijing. "The capital used to follow compulsive drug treatment, but Sunflower community center tries to explore humanized treatment," said Xu Benshu, head of the center. [continues 554 words]
Drug trafficking and use among young people has been rising in recent years, in particular with new drugs such as ketamine and ice, the Government Information Bureau acknowledged in a statement released yesterday - a day before International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking. According to a report by the Judiciary Police, heroin, ice, ketamine, cannabis, cocaine, nimetazepam, midazolam and ephedrine are the drugs most frequently seized. Of the 626 registered drug users in the system, 221 - about one third (35.3 percent) - are aged under 21 years, with an average age of 17.4 years. On the other hand, the average age for the first experience of drug use is 14.8 years, points out the report. [continues 575 words]
A top narcotics advisor says expanding the school drug testing scheme to all districts would be too costly. Action Committee Against Narcotics chief Daniel Shek Tan-lei said schools themselves, rather than the government, should take the lead if the scheme is to be extended. He also called for more attention to be focused on drug abusers in other age groups. His comments follow a report by the Narcotics Division which said projections based on its 2008-09 survey suggest that as many as 3,000 upper primary and three times as many secondary students could be abusing drugs. [continues 255 words]
Fu Lixin, emotionally exhausted from caring for her sick mother, needed a little pick-me-up. A friend offered her a "special cigarette" -- one laced with methamphetamine -- and she happily inhaled. The next day, three policemen showed up at her door. "They asked me to urinate in a cup," Fu said. "My friend had been arrested and turned me in. It was a drug test. I failed on the spot." Although she said it was her first time smoking the drug, [continues 796 words]
According to press reports, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was furious over the death sentence given by Chinese courts to Akmal Shaikh, a British national who was arrested with 4 kg of heroin in his possession. A few countries grant death sentence for drug offences. The execution of Shaikh is in accordance with Chinese law so there is absolutely no need for Brown to raise too much fuss over it. I have seen what drugs can do to people, to families and to communities and I strongly feel that the drug trade is one offence that should carry a mandatory death sentence. [continues 119 words]
China yesterday urged the United Kingdom to "properly settle" differences that arose after the execution of a British drug trafficker late last year, and "avoid impairment of bilateral relations". Addressing the first regular press briefing of the new year, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: "The two countries may hold different opinions on the issue, but we should follow the principle of mutual respect, and refrain from damaging our relationship." Jiang said that no one had the right to point a finger at the judiciary, which she said was an independent authority whose sovereignty should be respected. [continues 479 words]
BEIJING -- Fu Lixin, emotionally exhausted from caring for her sick mother, needed a little pick-me-up. A friend offered her a "special cigarette" -- one laced with methamphetamine -- and Ms. Fu happily inhaled. The next day, three policemen showed up at her door. "They asked me to urinate in a cup," she said. "My friend had been arrested and turned me in. It was a drug test. I failed on the spot." Although she said it was her first time smoking meth, Ms. Fu, 41, was promptly sent to one of China's compulsory drug rehabilitation centers. The minimum stay is two years, and life is an unremitting gantlet of physical abuse and forced labor without any drug treatment, according to former inmates and substance abuse professionals. [continues 869 words]
SHANGHAI -- A British man convicted of drug smuggling was executed in China early Tuesday, despite appeals for clemency from his family, human rights groups and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, according to British officials. The man, Akmal Shaikh, 53, was executed in the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang, where he had been convicted in 2008 of entering the country carrying a suitcase stuffed with heroin. It was not clear how the execution was carried out. Mr. Brown immediately released a statement on Tuesday saying that he condemned the execution "in the strongest terms" and that he was "appalled" that the court did not grant Mr. Shaikh clemency. [continues 200 words]
BEIJING -- China executed a British national for drug smuggling, sparking outrage from British leaders, who had appealed for clemency on mental-health grounds, and threatening to strain relations between the countries. Akmal Shaikh, convicted of carrying more than four kilograms of heroin two years ago at Urumqi Diwopu International Airport in northwestern Xinjiang province, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday after China's Supreme People's Court upheld his death sentence, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the execution, saying in a statement that he is "appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted." He expressed his "sincere condolences" to Mr. Shaikh's family and friends. [continues 515 words]
URUMQI -- Relatives visited a British man on the eve of his scheduled execution in China for drug smuggling and made a last-minute plea for mercy amid concerns he may be mentally ill. Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old father of three, is due to be executed Tuesday. The two cousins who visited him Monday said he had not been aware of the death penalty he is facing. He would be the first citizen of a European country to be executed in China in half a century. [continues 267 words]
THE Chinese embassy has responded to calls for clemency for the British man set to be executed tomorrow morning. Akmal Shaikh, 53, from north London, is due to be put to death at 10:30am after being convicted of smuggling heroin. His cousins Soohail and Nasir Shaikh, from London, were to arrive in Urumqi in north-west China yesterday. They say their relative has a bipolar condition which affected his behaviour. However, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London said Mr Shaikh was found with more than 4kg of heroin, which he said was enough to kill 26,800 people. He said that, according to Chinese law, being caught with 50g of heroin was enough for the death penalty to be applied. [continues 67 words]
FORMER drug addict surnamed He has been given a new start in her life, thanks to staff at a Minhang recovery center. Once hopelessly addicted to drugs, the young woman was sent to the rehab center by her family. However, her mother acted very strictly with her and the young woman became depressed again after completing an abstention program. When community staff at the center noticed, they immediately worked intensively with He and her mother to resolve the problem. Now she's a productive member of society again and has met her "Mr Right." [continues 261 words]
HONG KONG: The government has pledged to review the role police will play in the proposed drug-testing trial in Tai Po secondary schools. Commissioner for Narcotics Sally Wong Pik-yee made the remark after the Law Society expressed grave concern about police involvement in the trial program. Speaking after a meeting with representatives of the Professional Teachers' Union, Wong stressed that students who test positive for drugs in the scheme will generally not be prosecuted. Cheung Man-kwong, the union's president, said he opposes police involvement in the scheme. [continues 114 words]
HONG KONG: A major teachers' union has suggested Tai Po secondary schools be allowed to carry out the planned student drug testing program in their own ways and then report their results to the government. Cheung Man-kwong, the president of the Professional Teachers' Union, said the government can spend the next few months consulting with the education sector and come up with feasible proposals of how to implement the trial. He said schools should be allowed to decide individually how, when and where to carry out the drug tests and in what conditions students should be subject to testing. [continues 391 words]
HONG KONG: Some principals of secondary schools outside the boundaries for the Tai Po pilot program to be initiated this fall want suspected drug users in their schools to be tested for drugs. They are calling for additional government subsidies to pay for the testing. About 30 representatives of school councils and principals met with government officials yesterday to talk about the program of voluntary testing to be inaugurated in Tai Po. Rosalind Chan, the honorary executive secretary of the Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council, said several principals suggested at the meeting that the government subsidize drug testing of students under suspicion in districts other than Tai Po. [continues 384 words]
HONG KONG: The Hospital Authority will expand service for pregnant drug abusers to reduce harmful effects on unborn children. The authority served 192 pregnant drug abusers in Kowloon West between 2006 and 2008. Most of those under treatment were users of heroin, cocaine or their substitute methadone. Some cases were referred to the authority by the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers (SARDA). The women were treated using methadone at a clinic in Sham Shui Po operated by SARDA. [continues 552 words]
BEIJING: China's railway police nabbed 496.8 kilograms of drugs in crackdown of 1,291 drug-related cases in the first five months, the public security department of the Ministry of Railways said Saturday. More than 1,500 drug suspects were detained, said the ministry. It cited the Kunming Railway Station, a "drug control frontier" which blocked six drug crimes cases and seized 1.06 kg of drugs in 24 hours. As the closest major Chinese city located near the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia as well as the main linking point in intentional drug smuggling, Kunming, the capital city of Yunan Province, plays a critical role in China's anti-drug efforts. [continues 140 words]
Drug traffickers have invented ingenious ways to smuggle drugs into prisons - including intentionally committing crimes to get arrested. But 95 percent of the drugs meant for inmates last year were seized at the reception centers in Lai Chi Kok and Tai Lam, officials say. Correctional Services Officers Association junior section chairman Peter Chan Ba-tak credited the thoroughness of the inspectors and controversial body-cavity searches for the success in preventing drugs from getting into prisons. He said the 5 percent that did get through were either smuggled into prisons using less checked cavities in the body as well as through visitors. A prisoner then showed reporters how he stored 12 peanuts in his sinuses before sneezing them out. Other hiding areas include the ear canal and the rectum. [continues 294 words]
BEIJING -- The Ministry of Public Security said on its Web site Sunday that antidrug organizations across China made "obvious achievements" last year in stopping drug sources and improving rehabilitation methods. The ministry said antidrug forces cracked about 55,000 criminal cases in the first 11 months of last year and detained 65,000 suspects based on China's antidrug law. About 3.9 metric tons of heroin was confiscated and around 1300 groups were suppressed for making or dealing drugs. A total of 17 professional rehabilitation centers have been built across China so far, the ministry said, adding the centers now emphasize the welfare of addicts so as to prevent them from relapse after giving up drugs. Antidrug forces also enhanced cooperation with international counterparts on digging out overseas drug sources, said the ministry. [end]
The Supreme People's Court (SPC) said yesterday that people driven by poverty to join drug traffickers' gangs but not playing important roles may not be given the death sentence. "Some of the people involved in drug trafficking are from the lowest income group or are unemployed they are paid small amounts (of money) to peddle or carry drugs," says an SPC guideline, issued to lower courts. Unlike drug dealers and gang leaders they have very little power and are not considered as "harmful" to society. [continues 336 words]
Two suspected drug addicts were injured when they jumped from the fourth story of a residential building in Shanghai's Baoshan District on Thursday afternoon. The pair were allegedly trying to escape from police. The two, both Shanghai women, a 21-year-old surnamed Zhang and a 25-year-old surnamed Chen, jumped from a kitchen window and landed on a platform on the second floor, after police officers knocked at the door. Two officers went to a residential building at 78 Changjiang Road S. about 2:10pm after being tipped off that someone was using drugs on the fourth floor. [continues 143 words]
GUIYANG -- The number of registered Chinese drug addicts has risen by a third in the past three years, and has now reached 1.08 million as of October, said an official of the Ministry of Public Security on Friday. The number is continuing to increase and the situation is serious, said Zhang Xinfeng, the ministry's deputy minister. According to the ministry, the number of addicts was 785,000 in 2005. Nearly 80 percent of the drug abusers are heroin users, Zhang said. [continues 190 words]
The number of registered drug addicts in China has risen by a third in the past three years and reached 1.08 million in October, according to the Ministry of Public Security. It continued to increase and the situation was serious, said Vice Minister Zhang Xinfeng. The number of addicts had risen from 785,000 in 2005 and nearly 80 percent of drug abusers were heroin users, Zhang said. More than 56,000 drug dealers were arrested and 460,000 drug smuggling cases were dealt with in the first 10 months of 2008, Zhang said, adding that Chinese police would continue to crack down on drug trafficking. [continues 140 words]
OTTAWA -- Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana in a tomb in a remote part of China. The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany. The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China. [continues 96 words]
OTTAWA - Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China. The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany. The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China. [continues 543 words]
OTTAWA -- Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China. The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany. The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China. The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odour. [continues 280 words]
Teenagers suspected of taking drugs across the border may be subject to compulsory drug testing when they arrive at the Hong Kong checkpoint. The move was among the recommendations announced yesterday by the Task Force on Youth Drug Abuse headed by Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung to curb drug abuse. Wong said the number of young people going to the mainland to take drugs was alarming as official figures show one in six young drug abusers, or 17 percent, took drugs across the border last year. [continues 411 words]
The government has decided to involve private doctors in addressing the disturbing rise of drug abuse among the young. The government will also enhance training for school principals, teachers and school social workers in a bid to identify drug abusers at an early stage but remains reluctant to introduce drug screening at schools as this could infringe of human rights. Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung said private doctors would be provided with more information to help them identify young addicts at an early stage and motivate patients to seek help promptly. [continues 244 words]
Justice Chief Says Understanding Important in Tackling Problem Drug testing in secondary schools must not be implemented rashly and must first be considered thoroughly, Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung said after meeting several hundred principals of primary and secondary schools yesterday. Mr Wong said schools would not be "labelled" as a result of drug tests if they all conducted the same test. The Action Committee Against Narcotics has proposed to the inter-departmental taskforce on young drug abuse - led by Mr Wong - that drug testing be done at schools with parents' consent, given the rising number of young drug abusers. [continues 335 words]
A convicted dealer says ketamine use is now part of youth culture, and anti-drug rhetoric is a waste of breath. For Chow Ho-yin, taking ketamine is as normal as having a cup of coffee in a cafe. Mr Chow, 24, says he had his first taste of the drug at a disco when he was a secondary student eight years ago. He says he quickly "moved upward" to cocaine before becoming a trafficker in both drugs, eventually earning "HK$60,000 to HK$70,000" per month. His career ended when he was convicted of holding a small quantity of ketamine. He was sentenced to six months' rehabilitation. [continues 1315 words]
Voluntary drug testing at schools might be introduced after it was revealed that 60 per cent of young abusers have their first illegal drug experience before 16. The government said it would consider introducing tests after Central Registry of Drug Abuse figures released yesterday showed that 1,226 regular drug abusers under 21 were reported in the first quarter this year, a 15.2 per cent surge from the 1,064 last year. Of 876 registered abusers who revealed their age when they first took drugs, 556 said they were younger than 16. Nine per cent said they first took drugs when they were 11 or 12. [continues 340 words]
Six people were executed in Yunnan and Henan provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region for dealing in large quantities of drugs in three separate cases, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said yesterday. In one case, Han Yongwan and Duan Biwu were involved in smuggling, trading and transporting more than 775 kg of heroin from February 2001 to September 2005, along the border areas of Myanmar, and Yunnan and Guangdong provinces. Under the law, dealing in a minimum of 50 g of heroin warrants the death penalty in some provinces of China. The amount differs in other provinces. [continues 322 words]
Beijing (AFP) - China has executed three drug dealers and sentenced at least seven others to death, state media reported on Wednesday, on the eve of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The death penalties were among a series of harsh sentences handed down in more than 20 separate cases by courts from Shanghai in the east to Shenzhen in the south, the Xinhua news agency said. Among the three executed in southeastern Fujian province was a drug dealer from Taiwan, identified as Tseng Fu-wen, it said. [continues 200 words]
THE nation's new Anti-Drug Law focuses on treatment of drug addicts rather than punishment and asks the government to offer financial support, the director of the only compulsory rehabilitation center in Shanghai said. Li Yu, director of the Shanghai Compulsory Rehabilitation Center, which is affiliated to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, told Shanghai Daily that the number of drug addicts it treats rises about 5 percent every year. He added that the center is now treating people addicted to newer drugs such as ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine hydrochloride, a powerful, synthetic stimulant commonly known as ice. [continues 122 words]
Parents of foreign teenagers living in Beijing are accusing police of putting their heads in plastic bags and roughing them up if they complained during a drugs raid on a bar district. Police swept two bars in Sanlitun, the most well-established bar and restaurant area for younger foreign and Chinese residents of the capital on Friday night. They led out scores of revellers, including pupils from several of the city's numerous and expensive international private schools, as well as Chinese. [continues 319 words]
Southwest China's Yunnan Province set up seven more methadone mobile clinics in 2007 in the rural areas bordering the Golden Triangle in an effort to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. The province had intended to open 22 new clinics early last year but only 14 were set up by the end of 2007, bringing the total number of methadone clinics to 67 including eight mobile ones, said Zhang Ruimin, deputy director of the Yunnan Provincial Institute for Drug Abuse. [continues 190 words]
Chinese lawmakers are expected to adopt the country's first anti-drug law to curb drug-related crime, reduce the soaring number of users and provide more appropriate care for under-aged addicts. The law's final draft was "ready for adoption", the Law Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) told the 31st session of the NPC Standing Committee on its opening day Sunday, when the third and possibly final deliberation of the began. The number of drug takers in China grew 35 percent in the five years to 2005 to reach 1.16 million, according to official police data. [continues 335 words]
Authorities would consider enforcing stricter penalties for Hong Kong drug abusers caught on the mainland, Guangdong Provincial Narcotics Control Commission director Chen Shaobo said on Friday. Hong Kong drug abusers arrested on the mainland are usually detained for 15 days before they are sent back to the SAR, he said. "However, under the law, we can impose drug withdrawal program on the abusers, which can run up to between three months and one year. I strongly urge youngsters not to abuse drugs on the mainland," he added. [continues 344 words]
Inside China
