More Drug Addicts Receives Treatment in ChinaMore than 224,000 drug addicts in China were treated at compulsory rehabilitation centers and another 120,000 got treatment at treatment and reeducation-through- labor centers in 1999, said a white paper entitled "Narcotics Control in China" issued by the State Council Information Office on June 26.In China, addicts mainly receive treatment at compulsory rehabilitation centers and treatment and reeducation-through-labor centers, special schools for educating and saving addicts from ruin. At present, China has a total of 746 compulsory rehabilitation centers and 168 treatment and reeducation-through-labor centers (teams), the white paper disclosed. According to Chinese laws, all addicts are sent to compulsory rehabilitation centers established by governments at all levels. Those who resume drugs after receiving compulsory treatment are sent to reeducation-through-labor centers administered by judicial departments, where they are forced to undergo treatment side by side with reeducation through physical labor. The state has also established drug dependence research centers, drug abuse monitoring centers, drug dependence treatment centers and narcotic drugs laboratories, and organized scientific research institutions and experts to conduct research on scientific methods of rehabilitation for addicts and pharmaceuticals for drug addiction treatment. The paper stressed that governments at all levels and grassroots organizations actively help the rehabilitated addicts to solve concrete problems in their life and work, so that they will not be discriminated against in employment or admission to higher education. Many addicts have returned to society and started to lead a new life upon successful rehabilitation. The paper stressed that the Chinese government prohibits the cultivation of mother drug plants. It has always taken this as a focal point of its drug control work and paid constant attention to it as a way to nip troubles in the bud. As a result, it said, "China has virtually eradicated the illegal cultivation of mother drug plants." It went on to say that China is a country with a large population, and so it needs a lot of legal narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The paper noted that the Chinese government also exercises strict control over the precursor chemicals. From 1991 to 1999, China cracked 360 cases involving the production and trafficking of methamphetamines, dealing a heavy blow to such activities, the paper disclosed. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |