¡¡BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhuanet) -- A senior secutiry official Monday vowed to launch a "people's war" against drugs, aiming at checkingthe sources of drugs, curbing the harmful influence of drug crimesand keeping the number of drug addicts from growing. 

    "The nationwide campaign is to meet actual demand to deal with current tough situation of drug abuse in China, and is also a decisive strategy to win the initiative in fighting against drugs," said Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and State Councilor.

    Zhou, also minister of public security and director of the National Narcotics Control Commission, made the remarks at the commission's plenary meeting held here Monday.

    China made "major achievements" in drug control in 2004 with more cases solved and suspects arrested than in 2003, resulting ina large increase in the street price of narcotics, according to the commission.

    China cracked 98,000 drug-related cases in 2004, up 4.4 percent over the previous year, and seized 66,900 suspects, up 5.1 percent,according to statistics revealed at the meeting.

    Last year, China seized 10.8 tons of heroin in 2004, up 13.6 percent year-on-year; more than 3 million "head-shaking" pills, orecstasy, an eight-fold increase; 2.7 tons of "ice" , down 52.9 percent; and 160 tons of chemicals for drug manufacture, up 119.8 percent.

    "Thanks to years of high-powered crackdowns, drugs have become more difficult to come by on the domestic market. Drug prices haverisen significantly and the high incidence of drug-related crimes has generally been brought under control," said a commission official.

    But it was pointed out at the meeting that China still faces major challenges in the fight against drugs as the forms of drug crimes have become more diversified and covert while the country'santi-drug forces still lack necessary equipment and knowledge to track them.

    China had 791,000 drug addicts at the end of 2004, up 6.8 percent from 2003, involving 2,102 counties. Young people, farmersand the unemployed are three major groups of the drug addicts, according to the commission.

    Nearly 86 percent of Chinese drug users are addicted to heroin.The number of addicts to new kinds of drugs like ecstasy and ketamine hydrochloride is also increasing, from accounting for 2.5percent of the total in 2001 to 9.5 percent in 2004.

    A detailed arrangement has been made for the nationwide campaign against drugs at the meeting, a source said.

    China's central authorities have attached great importance to the anti-drug work. Last year, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a special meeting to discuss the anti-drug policy and the State Council issued a five-year layout of anti-drug activities.

    China now boasts a special anti-drug police force of about 17,000 members, and the central government has input hundreds of million yuan to support the drug control efforts over the past years. Enditem