CORRUPT OFFICIALS HAMPER CITY'S DRUG-FIGHTING EFFORTS

HCM CITY - The deployment of more sophisticated trading means and
connivance of some local officials have made it more difficult for police
to curb rising drug abuse and trade in HCM City, a senior police official
has said.

Colonel Phan Anh Minh, Deputy Director of HCM City Police, also said that
the number of criminal cases relating to drugs in 2008 had increased by 36
per cent compared with 2007, mainly in the districts of 1, 2, 6, 11, Tan
Binh, Tan Phu and Binh Chanh.

As many as 20 per cent of addicts were using synthetic drugs and
performing their deals mainly on phones, making it difficult for the
police to crackdown on them, Minh said.

Their job was made even more difficult by some local officials who were
shielding the drug dealers.

Poor co-ordination between concerned agencies of the city administration
and that of neighboring provinces was yet another factor, Minh told a
meeting hosted by the Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, Le
Hoang Quan, on Friday.

The meeting, held to find solutions to the growing problem, was attended
by the City Steering Committee on Drug Crime and Social Evils Prevention
and the city police.

Quan stressed the need for concerned agencies to take more drastic
measures to fight drug-related crimes.

He said any Party member who shielded drug dealing activities would
receive serious punishment.

The rate of re-addiction in the city has reached 15 per cent and the
number of addicts in 2008 increased by more than 2,000 people, or 27.16
per cent, over the previous year, according to the municipal Department of
Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

To prevent re-addiction, the city administration has instructed district
authorities to focus on finding jobs for the rehabilitated, in order to
help them reintegrate into the community, and to force relapsed addicts
back into rehab centres.