AIDS, DRUGS RELATED; SO ARE THE ANSWERS

Fifteen years ago yesterday, the first case of AIDS was reported on the
Chinese mainland. With it came a stern warning on the rapid spread of the
so-far incurable, fatal disease.

Today we observe the UN-sponsored International Day against Drug Abuse and
Illicit Trafficking.

Though a chronological coincidence, the timing illustrates the connection
between AIDS and drug abuse.

Blood transfusions, use of blood products, sex and mother-infant fluid
transmissions are also recognized channels for the spread of AIDS in this
country.

But intravenous injections of drugs are responsible for 72.4 per cent of all
HIV/AIDS infection cases reported in the mainland, according to medical
authorities. Sex is accountable for a mere 6.7 per cent.

Since international drug traffickers took advantage of the country's opening
up and sneaked back to China in the late 1970s, narcotics transactions have
been reported in all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

Where drug dealers went, AIDS followed. Places hardest hit by drugs are
places where AIDS takes the heaviest tolls. The abrupt rise in the narcotics
trade and the apparent acceleration of AIDS propagation in the late 1990s
were not accidental.

The number of HIV carriers and AIDS patients, 18,143 as of March, may be
small in contrast to our 1.2-billion-plus population. But the ever-steeper
growth curve shows that the fight will be tougher.

By the end of 1999, the number of narcotics addicts registered at mainland
public security authorities was 681,000. Heaven only knows how many are off
the official records.

Drug use does not necessarily cause HIV infection. But the high proportion
of drug-related AIDS cases in China points to a dangerous potential that we
cannot afford to neglect.

Eighty per cent of the reported HIV/AIDS cases were found in young and
middle-aged people. About the same proportion of registered drug addicts are
under 35 years old. The long latency between HIV contraction and AIDS
symptoms makes the disease even more perilous among those who are sexually
active.

Authorities have been tenacious in dealing with AIDS and drugs. The State
Council published the Mid-term and Long-term Plan for the Prevention and
Control of AIDS in 1998. Corresponding proposals were incorporated into
national social and economic development plans.

Over the years, the crackdown on drugs has been high on the government's
list of priorities as well. Last year alone, public security departments
handled 65,000 drug-related crimes.

We can tell from the obvious correlation between drugs and AIDS that any
headway in our anti-drug crusade would ease pressure on the other
battlefield.

No matter how hard we try at home, however, the battle against drugs cannot
be successful without international collaboration.

The nation was drug free for 30 years after the People's Republic of China
was founded in 1949. Our present drug nightmare was at least initiated by
international drug rings.

United Nations statistics say the volume of world narcotics trade exceeds
US$400 billion each year, or about 8 per cent of world trade.

China is only one of the victims.

The devastation caused by narcotics has driven more and more national
governments to take action to protect their peoples and economies. But the
globalization of drug trafficking means no country can claim complete
victory over drugs by itself.

Joining hands in the fight against drugs ultimately contributes to each
individual country's own well-being.