China's Anti-Narcotics Officers to Take National ExamChina's drug police will take a national exam by the end of this year to measure their general drug awareness and knowledge of domestic and international drug laws, according to a senior officer with the Ministry of Public Security.Yang Fengrui, bureau chief of narcotics control under the ministry, said certificates will go to those who pass the exam; those who fail will have to attend training courses. In southwestern China's Yunnan Province, which is the focal point of the country's war against drugs, some 320 police officers have already taken the exam, the first of a series of exams for the drug police across the country. Yang said that since the second quarter of this year, the ministry has sponsored anti-narcotics training courses, lectures, and some other educational programs to improve the officers' professional skills. The courses mainly cover basic drug awareness, China's narcotics control policies, international treaties on narcotics control, and the procedures for handling narcotics cases. China currently faces an alarming drug problem, with more than 680,000 drug addicts on record by the end of 1999, 80 percent of whom are male. Approximately 78 percent of China's drug addicts are between ages 17 and 35, and 72 percent of the country's drug population are heroin users, according to the ministry. |
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