CHINA FACES BIG RISE IN DRUG ABUSE

CHINA: China has declared war on drug-dealers after new figures revealed a
dramatic rise of 26 per cent in the number of drug addicts in the country
last year.

The figures, released on Saturday by the National Narcotics Control
Commission (NNCC), indicate there are 860,000 drug addicts in the country.
The increase is blamed on easier access to heroin and "ice", a deadly mix
of cocaine and amphetamines.

Mr Bai Jingfu, deputy director of the NNCC, said there were seizures of 20
tonnes of "ice" across China last year compared to the 16 tonnes seized in
1999. Police confiscated just 7.3 tonnes in the period from 1991 to 1998.

Data from the commission show that last year Chinese police identified
96,189 drug cases, an increase of 48.7 per cent on 1999. They arrested some
57,000 suspected drugdealers, with 36,000 suspects tried in court.

A total of 6.3 tonnes of heroin, 2.4 tonnes of opium and 20.9 tonnes of
"ice" were seized across the country.

According to Mr Bai, new types of narcotics, including "ice", have been
flooding the domestic black market since the mid-1990s and the business was
generating huge profits for dealers.

The Golden Triangle, an area between Burma, Thailand and Laos, and the
Golden Crescent in central Asia are notorious for their drug production and
trafficking. It is estimated that more than 95 per cent of China's heroin
consumption involves drugs smuggled from the Golden Triangle.

The head of the narcotics commission, the Public Security Minister, Mr Jia
Chunwang, said China faced an increasingly tough task in fighting drug
trafficking and abuse. He warned that no effort would be spared to combat
the problem, which he claimed threatened economic developments and social
stability.