DRUG CZAR WARNS OF TOUGH FIGHT AHEAD

A senior police officer warned yesterday that China faces an uphill
battle in its fight against illegal narcotics, particularly given the
increasing availability of new types of drugs.

Yang Fengrui, director of the Ministry of Public Security's narcotics
control bureau, said in an online interview that much remained to be
done to continue the authorities' successful two-year battle against drug use.

New types of drugs, like ice, ecstasy and ketamine, have been
spreading at a tremendous speed across the nation and are posing a
great threat to social stability, he said.

People using these new types of drugs account for a growing portion
of drug arrests.

"Still more new-type drug users may not have been discovered yet," he said.

Yang said it was a mistake for people to think that ice and ecstasy
are not drugs, adding that they are actually addictive and harmful to
the nervous system.

Long-time consumption of the drugs could lead to mental disorders and
loss of self-control, he said.

Yang warned that young people, especially students, should be careful
about accepting drinks and cigarettes from others in public.

According to incomplete statistics from the bureau, the police dealt
with 1,959 drug-related cases at public entertainment places
nationwide last year.

Tempted by the large profits, many managers of such establishments
allow or directly provide drugs to customers, he said.

Yang said a large-scale drug education campaign is urgent.

He said the special campaign against narcotics that kicked off in
2005 had yielded substantial results, with the annual growth rate of
new addicts dropping from 30 percent in 2000 to 5.8 percent last year.

Last year, police cracked 46,300 drug-related cases, seizing 56,200
suspects. They also seized 5.79 tons of heroin, 1.69 tons of opium,
5.95 tons of ice, 454,100 ecstasy pills and 1.79 tons of ketamine.

The government spent 110 million yuan ($14.3 million) last year to
set up a drug prevention and control system that involves all
relevant departments.

Statistics from the bureau show that the price of heroin in most
parts of the country had increased by 80 to 100 percent last year
because of the crackdown. It is now much more difficult for drug
users to buy heroin.

Last year, 660,000 heroin users were caught, 6 percent less than the
year before.

The percentage of new HIV cases caused by shared needles dropped to
49 percent last year from 68.7 percent in 2001.