CHINA OUTLINES ITS DRUG FIGHT

BEIJING - In its first policy paper on China' s drug problems,
the government said Monday that it had managed to crack more than 800,
000 drug cases in the 1990s but also saw a fourfold increase in
addiction rates during that period.

In the document, issued by the State Council -- China' s cabinet --
the government summed up its efforts to contain the return of the
rampant addiction that plagued the country for a century before the
communists came to power in 1949.

China' s law enforcement bodies are " waging a fierce battle against
all drug-related criminal activities, administering merciless
punishment to those involved, " said the paper. However, citing rising
numbers of drug addicts and drug-related criminal cases, it added
this: " the situation is grim."

Between 1991 and 1999, China cracked more than 800, 000 drug cases,
confiscating almost 40 tons of heroin, as well as tons of opium,
marijuana and methamphetamine, also known as " ice, " the paper said.
It added that the 22 tons of drugs seized in 1999 marked a 33 percent
rise over the previous year.

During the 1990s -- a decade of rising incomes and loosened social
controls -- the policy paper said the number of registered drug
addicts rose from 148, 000 in 1991 to 681, 000 last year. Heroin was
the drug of choice for 70 percent of addicts, 79 percent of who were
under age 35, the report said.

More recent figures have put the number of registered addicts as high
as 800, 000, and a senior U.S. drug-control official has quoted
Chinese estimates of 3 million to 12 million total drug users.

After wiping out widespread opium addiction in the first years of
communist rule, the government was slow to react to a resurgence in
drug use following economic reforms in the 1980s. Only in the past few
years has it started public awareness campaigns and appealed for
international cooperation.

China greeted the run-up to United Nations anti-drug day Monday by
executing traffickers, at least 38 of them last week, and running
reports in state media. Another 10 people were executed Monday,
state-run China Central Television said.

The television station ran a special report Monday on young people at
urban discos using the amphetamine Ecstasy, known in China as the "
head-rocking pill." Stylishly dressed women were shown shaking their
heads violently to techno-music.

The policy paper said China treats addicts within its system of 746
compulsory rehabilitation centers and 168 treatment and labor camps --
facilities for hard-core users. Private treatment centers are also
being set up.

Overall, relapse rates remain high, partly a factor of the poor
employment prospects many former addicts face at a time of rapid
economic reforms.

China lies on a major transit route for the 110 tons of heroin
produced in neighboring Myanmar every year. The policy paper blamed
drugs smuggled from the " Golden Triangle" border region for the surge
in addiction.

It said China has virtually eradicated cultivation of plants such as
opium poppies within its territory and aids Myanmar and Laos with
crop-substitution and tourism promotion programs to discourage poppy
growing.