Narcotics Control in China

Foreword

The present globalization of the drug issue has posed a grave menace to human well-being and development. According to data published by the United Nations in 1998, 21 million people worldwide suffered from cocaine or heroin addiction, and another 30 million from the abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants.

On her southwestern border China is adjacent to the "Golden Triangle,"one of the main sources of drugs in the world. Since the late 1970s, the illicit international narcotics tide has constantly invaded China, and criminal drug-related activities touched off by transit drug trafficking have re-emerged. The number of drug addicts has kept rising, drug-related cases have constantly increased, the drug scourge is becoming more serious with each passing day, and the situation is grim for the anti-drug struggle. In 1999, China cracked down 65,000 drug-related criminal cases, and confiscated 5.364 tons of heroin, 1.193 tons of opium, 16.059 tons of crystal methamphetamine (commonly known as "ice''), and some cocaine, MDMA and marijuana. In 1999, the number of drug-related cases cracked and the total amount of drugs confiscated increased by 2.4 percent and 33.6 percent, respectively, over 1998. The number of drug addicts registered with the public security organs in 1999 was 148,000, a figure which rose to 520,000 in 1995, and to 681,000 in 1999. Now drug addicts account for 0.054 percent of China's total population. Of the drug addicts, those taking heroin make up 71.5 percent, and those under the age of 35 amount to 79.2 percent. By the end of 1999, of a total of 17,316 reported cases of AIDS virus infection, those infected by intravenous injections of drugs made up 72.4 percent. At present, each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government in China suffers from illegal drug-related activities to a certain extent, and China has been turned from a victim of the transit drug trade into a victim of both drug transit and consumption.

Illicit drugs bring calamity to any country and people. Launching an anti-drug struggle to eliminate the drug scourge is the historical responsibility of the Chinese government. In old China, drugs once brought hideous disaster to the nation. But after the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the Chinese government led the Chinese people in a momentous struggle against drugs. In a short period of three years, China wiped out the scourge of opium, which had scourged China for a century, thus performing a miracle acknowledged by the whole world. Confronting the new drug problem, the Chinese government, taking an attitude of supreme responsibility to the state, the nation and the people, and the mankind as a whole, and standing firm in strictly prohibiting illegal drugs, has adopted all necessary measures and done its utmost to ban illicit drugs for the benefit of the people.

I.Sticking to the Position of Strict Drug Control

The Chinese government believes that drugs are a worldwide public hazard confronting the whole of mankind, and drug control is an imminent and common responsibility incumbent to international society. Drugs harm people's health, give rise to corruption and crimes, disrupt sustainable development and endanger national security and world peace. Therefore, all illegal activities involving drugs must be strictly prohibited and eliminated.

The Chinese people feel keenly the harm of drugs, and know that drug control is in their fundamental interests. Safeguarding citizens' lives, and protecting the people's subsistence and development are the lofty responsibilities of the Chinese government. For many years, the Chinese government has taken drug control as a fundamental objective, and has formulated and implemented a series of principles, policies and measures in this regard.

----Attending to drug control as a vital matter involving the rise and fall of the Chinese nation. We take drug control as a basic policy and include it in the program for national economic and social development, and make it an important duty of governments at all levels. The governments at all levels have set up a drug control work responsibility system that suits the actual conditions of China to maintain the permanent momentum in drug control.

----Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. We take drug control as a complex social system project and a long-term strategic task, and use various means in a comprehensive way-law, administration, the economy, culture, education, and medical treatment, to mobilize and organize all social walks of life to participate in the anti-drug struggle.

----Persisting in drug control according to law. In accordance with the general plan of exercising the rule of law, we have persisted in setting up and perfecting a system of laws and regulations concerning drug control, administered and controlled narcotics, psychotropic substances, and precursor chemicals, prevented and punished drug-related crimes. We have resolutely cracked down on various illegal activities involving drugs, started drug addiction treatment and rehabilitation, corrected, cured and rescued drug addicts, so as to guarantee that drug control work proceeds in a law-governed manner.

----Formulating the working principle of "promoting'4-in-1 prohibitions' simultaneously, eradicating sources of drugs and obstructing their channels of trafficking, enforcing the law strictly, and solving the problem by examining both its root causes and its symptoms."While prohibiting drug abuse, trafficking, cultivating and manufacturing, we lay equal stress on the control of illicit supplies and the prevention of drug abuse, forbid and crack down on all illegal activities involving drugs.

----Taking the prevention of drug abuse by teenagers as a basic project in drug control. As for teenagers, we put stress on education and protection, adopt various powerful measures, organize and coordinate relevant government departments and various mass organizations to perfect the preventive work, and educate youngsters to treasure their lives and refuse drugs.

----Actively participating in and promoting international cooperation in drug control. The Chinese government supports international drug control cooperation, and earnestly implements three propositions in this regard: adhering to the principle of extensive participation and shared responsibilities; comprehensively implementing an overall and balanced international drug control strategy; and attaching great importance to alternative development to promote a solution to the drug problem for good.

In China, drug control is led by governments at all levels, in the care of the drug control departments of public security authorities, co-administered by relevant government functional departments and participated in jointly by mass organizations. In 1990, the Chinese government set up the National Narcotics Control Commission (NNCC), composed of 25 departments, including the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Health and General Administration of Customs. The NNCC leads the nation's drug control work in a unified way, and is responsible for international drug control cooperation, with an operational agency based in the Ministry of Public Security. In 1998, with the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of Public Security set up the Drug Control Bureau, which also serves as an operational agency of the NNCC. Now, the governments of all the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and most counties (cities and districts) in China have set up corresponding drug control leading organs. Meanwhile, the public security organs of 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and of the 204 regions (cities and prefectures) and 735 counties (cities and districts) under the jurisdiction of these provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have set up police anti-drug squads. The Chinese People's Armed Police, frontier defense force of the public security authorities, judicial departments, Customs, supervision and control organs of pharmaceuticals, and administration departments for industry and commerce also undertake corresponding anti-drug law enforcement tasks. Governments at all levels in China include the funds required for drug control in their financial budgets, and along with the development of the national economy and the needs of the drug control situation, the funds allocated for such purpose are expected to increase every year. In 1998, the China Narcotics Control Foundation was set up, with the approval of the State Council, aiming at collecting funds from society at large to support drug control work.

II. Constantly Strengthening Drug Control Legislation

China attaches great importance to the building of the legal system in drug control and persists in drug control according to law. In view of the drug rampancy over the past 20-odd years, China has speeded up legislation in drug control, and has formulated and promulgated a whole array of laws and regulations, thanks to which, great progress has been made in legal system building in this field.

Criminal legislation for drug control has improved step by step. On July 1, 1979, the Criminal Law of the PRC was adopted at the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress (NPC), which specified the crimes of manufacturing, trafficking and transporting drugs, and the relevant punishments. In the 1980s, the NPC Standing Committee issued, successively, the Customs Law of the PRC, the Regulations of the PRC on Administrative Penalties for Public Security, the Resolution on Severely Punishing Criminals Who Have Seriously Sabotaged the Economy, the Supplementary Regulations on Punishing Smuggling, and other laws, which formulated further regulations on punishing drug-related crimes and raised the highest legal punishment for serious drug-related crimes to the death penalty. On December 18, 1990, the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh NPC adopted the Decision on Drug Control, which included comprehensive regulations on the types of drug-related crimes and penalties, the punishments for drug addicts and compulsory drug addiction rehabilitation, and clearly specified China's universal jurisdiction over the crimes of smuggling, trafficking, transporting and manufacturing drugs.

On March 14, 1997, at the Fifth Session of the Eighth NPC, the Criminal Law of the PRC was revised. On the basis of absorbing and retaining the main contents of the Decision on Drug Control, the revised Criminal Law made important amendments and supplements to the legal regulations on drug-connected crimes, thus further improving China's criminal legislation in this regard. The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate made relevant judicial interpretations of the revised Criminal Law.

Severely punishing drug-connected crimes is one of the outstanding characteristics of China's criminal legislation for drug control. The revised Criminal Law fully embodies this principle. First, the law comprehensively specifies the types of drug-related crimes, guaranteeing that various drug-related criminal offenses are punished by law. The law specifies 12 crimes, which cover the smuggling, trafficking, transporting and manufacturing of drugs, the illegal holding of drugs, the harboring, transferring and concealing of drugs and illicit drug-related money, the smuggling of materials for manufacturing drugs, the illegal trading in such materials, the illegal cultivation of mother plants of narcotic drugs, the illegal trading, transporting, hand-carrying and holding of seeds and seedlings of such plants, and the illegal provision of narcotics and psychotropic substances, as well as the criminal punishments for these crimes. In addition, the penalties for the laundering of drug-related money are stipulated. Second, the law specifies that the criminal responsibility of a person for smuggling, trafficking, transporting or manufacturing narcotic drugs, regardless of their quantity, be legally pursued and punished. The quantity of drugs shall be calculated according to the verified amount of the drugs smuggled, trafficked, transported, manufactured or illegally held, and not in terms of purity. Third, economic sanctions are applied against drug-related crimes. The law specifies that property shall be confiscated or a fine imposed for drug-related crimes, aiming at depriving drug criminals of their illegal income and destroying their economic ability to commit drug-related crimes again. Fourth, those who make use of or instigate minors to smuggle, sell, transport or manufacture drugs, sell drugs to minors, or lure, instigate, deceive or force them into taking or injecting drugs, and those who have again committed drug-related crimes after having already been convicted of the crime of smuggling, selling, transporting, manufacturing or illegally holding drugs shall be punished with severity. Fifth, criminals who smuggle, sell, transport or manufacture large amounts of drugs shall be sentenced to death. The fact that China legislatively punishes drug-connected crimes with severity is required by the reality of the anti-drug struggle, and shows China's stand for strict drug control.

Strict administration to prevent the abuse of narcotics and psychotropic substances is a very important content of the building of China's anti-drug legal system. Hence China has promulgated more than 30 relevant laws, statutes and regulations. In September 1984, the seventh meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth NPC adopted the Law of the PRC on the Management of Medicines and Chemical Reagents. Article 39 of the Law specifies: The state adopts special procedures for the administration of narcotics and psychotropic substances. In 1987 and 1988, the State Council promulgated the Procedures for Narcotic Drug Control, and the Procedures for Psychotropic Substances Control, which specify clearly the administration of the production, supply, transportation, use, import and export of narcotics and psychotropic substances. In 1995, the State Council promulgated the Procedures for Compulsory Drug Addiction Rehabilitation, and the Ministry of Health issued the Procedures for the Administration of Pharmaceuticals for Drug Addiction Treatment. Hence the work in this regard has laws to follow.

To prevent precursor chemicals diverting into illegal channels, and crack down on relevant illegal or criminal activities, Chinese legislative bodies and the Chinese government have also issued a series of laws and regulations for the strict control of such chemicals. The Criminal Law of the PRC, the Customs Law of the PRC, and the Decision on Drug Control made by the NPC Standing Committee include stern penalties for the criminal offenses of illegally trading and smuggling precursor chemicals, ephedrine and other raw materials and ingredients intended to be processed into drugs.

In addition, the legislative organs of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangdong, Gansu, Shaanxi, Heilongjiang and Jiangsu provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions have worked out local drug control statutes in accordance with local conditions.

At present, China has formed a preliminary anti-drug legal system with criminal laws as the mainstay, and administrative and local statutes as supplements, thus providing powerful legal weapons for the anti-drug struggle.

III. Cracking Down on Drug-related Crimes

China's anti-drug law enforcement organs enforce the laws strictly and are waging a fierce battle against all drug-related criminal activities, administering merciless punishment to those involved in such activities.

In China, drugs mainly come from other countries, and the Chinese government has done its best to ban transit drug trafficking. In the 1980s, the government organized public security, armed police and customs organs, and the civilian joint defense teams to coordinate the fight against drug trafficking, mainly in the southwest border areas and southeast coastal areas. It mobilized a large number of people, a great quantity of materials and a large amount of money. Three "lines of defense"were set up to keep drugs from flowing in: The first line was the borderland, where exit and entry were subject to strict examination; the second line was composed of checkpoints in inland regions; and the third line consisted of checks on vital lines of communication, airports, railway stations and harbors. In the 1990s, the work of banning transit drug trafficking was further intensified and attention was paid to "eradicating sources of drugs and obstructing their channels of trafficking." Checking was publicly done on key lines of communication, and at airports, railway stations, sea ports and harbors, so that a situation was created in which defense was organized in a unified way and actions were coordinated with due divisions of labor and incoming drug dealers were subject to encirclement, pursuit, obstruction and interception. The functions of relevant organs such as the public security, customs, forestry, posts and telecommunications, railway, civil aviation and other transport departments have been brought into full play, culminating in a signal victory in the battle against drugs. Since 1982, more than 70,000 transit drug trafficking cases have been cleared up in Yunnan Province alone, and more than 80 tons of heroin and opium from the "Golden Triangle"area have been confiscated. In May 1994, police in Yunnan Province cracked an extraordinarily serious transnational drug smuggling case, in which the "Golden Triangle"drug ring kingpin was sentenced by the judicial organ to capital punishment according to law. For many years China's law enforcement organs have consistently adopted a highhanded policy in dealing with drug-related criminal activities and struck heavy blows at the overweening arrogance of the drug-related culprits both at home and abroad.

While stemming the trafficking of drugs from abroad, the Chinese government has continuously organized special battles against drugs, constantly focussing attention on areas where drugs constitute a serious problem and hitting hard at drug crimes at home. In the three consecutive years from 1983 to 1986, China launched a nationwide campaign to crack down on criminal offenses, targeted mainly at drug-related crimes. In August 1992, the Yunnan provincial government organized an 83-day armed drug elimination operation, in which a massive drug- and weapon-smuggling ring which had been operating in the town of Pingyuan, Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, with the characteristics of a criminal syndicate was smashed at one fell swoop. From 1993 to 1996, in the southwest border areas, the Ministry of Public Security launched a three-year campaign against drugs and firearms. In 1997, according to a unified deployment the NNCC launched a momentous anti-drug campaign nationwide, with great success. Since 1999, under the unified organization of the NNCC key areas like Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangdong and Gansu provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have paid great attention to drug-infested areas and cracked a sequence of major drug-related cases, arrested a contingent of drug-traffickers, wiped out a batch of drug-smuggling gangs and eradicated a number of underground drug-dealing markets and networks. From 1991 to 1999, China's drug-control organs cracked more than 800,000 drug cases, and confiscated 39.67 tons of heroin, 16.894 tons of opium, 15.079 tons of marijuana and 23.375 tons of methamphetamine.

China is a country with a large population. So it needs a lot of legal narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. While endeavoring to protect people's health and meet the needs of medical treatment the government practices strict control of 118 narcotic drugs and 119 psychotropic substances, and their production, trading, use and import and export are restricted to prevent illegal circulation. The health and pharmaceuticals control and management departments, as well as the agricultural, industrial and commercial administration, foreign trade, customs, public security, railway, civil aviation and other transport departments in different areas carry out security checks every year on the production, trading, transportation, and import and export of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The illegal production, trafficking and supply or abuse of such drugs and substances are promptly investigated and punished. A large number of criminal cases of stealing, illegal buying and selling or addiction of pethidine and other narcotic drugs have been investigated and severely dealt with in Heilongjiang, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the northern part of China.

The Chinese government prohibits the cultivation of mother drug plants. It has always taken this as a focal point of its drug control work and paid constant attention to it as a way to nip troubles in the bud. Every year, the NNCC instructs governments at all levels to promote the activities to eradicate drug cultivation and to carry out a responsibility system along that line. Anti-drug publicity and education is conducted among the people and efforts are made to investigate illegal drug planting and to see that drug growers are punished and the plants are uprooted wherever they are found. The local governments in key mountainous and forested areas organize special teams every year to investigate and check the illegal planting of mother drug plants. Since 1992, the NNCC and forestry departments have organized aerial surveillance of suspected planting in the primeval forests in the Greater Hinggan Mountains in northeast China and in the Lianhua Mountains in northwest China, with modern scientific and technological methods. As a result of all this, China has virtually eradicated the illegal cultivation of mother drug plants.

IV. Exercising Strict Control over the Precursor Chemicals

Since the 1980s, transnational smuggling and trafficking of precursor chemicals and of ephedrine have increased rapidly in tandem with the prevalence of the global drug problem and the extended production of chemosynthesized drugs. The Chinese government takes seriously its responsibility to the international community to strictly control these chemicals and ephedrine, in earnest compliance with its duties under international anti-drug conventions.

Laws and regulations on the control of such chemicals have gradually been perfected. In October 1988, the relevant government departments issued a document on the control of exports of acetic oxide, ether and chloroform, which can be used for synthesis of heroin and other narcotic drugs. In January 1993, China exercised control over the export licenses for the 22 precursor chemicals as listed in the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, and in June 1996 it also exercised control over the import licenses for these chemicals. In April 1997, China's relevant foreign trade department issued the Interim Regulations on the Control of the Import and Export of Precursor Chemicals, and in December 1999, the Regulations on the Control of the Import and Export of Precursor Chemicals was officially issued. At the same time, local regulations on the overall control of the production, transportation, trading and use of such chemicals were formulated in provinces such as Yunnan and Sichuan that border on the sourcelands of narcotic drugs. At present, the Chinese government is formulating nationwide regulations on the control of such chemicals.

Regulations on the control of ephedrine have steadily been improved. From 1992 to 1998, the relevant government departments issued several regulations on the control of ephedrine. In March 1998, the State Council issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Control of Ephedrine. The notice stipulates that the production, trading, transportation, use and export of ephedrine shall be subject to special control. In December 1998, the relevant departments jointly issued the Notice on Issues Pertaining to the Strengthened Control of the Export of Ephedrine-typed Products, exercising control over the export of the 12 saline products, semi-finished products, derivatives and single preparations of ephedrine. In June 1999 and May 2000, they issued the Procedures for the Control of Ephedrine and the Regulations on the Control of Transportation Licenses for Ephedrine, which have further improved the rules on the strict control of ephedrine.

The competent departments and law enforcement organs at all levels strictly implement the state's relevant laws and regulations, and continuously strengthen the supervision and control of the production and circulation of precursor chemicals and of ephedrine. The legal production and trading of these chemicals and ephedrine are protected by law, but the illegal buying and selling, trafficking and smuggling of these products shall be severely punished. The border areas and ports of entry and exit of provinces and autonomous regions in southwest, northwest and northeast China have consistently investigated and banned the import of drugs as well as the smuggling abroad of those chemicals and ephedrine in pursuance of their "two-way investigation program."From 1997 to 1999, China cracked 548 cases of illegal buying, selling and smuggling of precursor chemicals and confiscated more than 1,000 tons of illegal chemical products.

In collaboration with UN drug control organs and competent departments of other countries, the relevant departments of China have set up an international system to check the import and export of precursor chemicals. In 1999 alone, China examined 568 such import and export cases, and 35 cases of illicit trading were discovered and curbed. As a result, 3,380 tons of chemical products were withheld from export. From April to December 1999, China discovered six cases of such illegal trading, and withheld 1,160 tons of potassium permanganate from export, during the global drive known as "Purple Action."China joined with more than 20 countries, regions and international organizations, during this campaign to thwart illegal trafficking in potassium permanganate.

Since the 1950s, China has exercised strict control over amphetamines and other psychotropic substances. In view of the fact that criminal activities involving the manufacture and trafficking of methamphetamines have become increasingly rampant in the past few years, Chinese public security organs have launched several campaigns specially against such activities, particularly in the southeast coastal areas of the country. In 1999, the NNCC added the prohibition of drug manufacture to its "simultaneous promotion of three prohibitions"anti-drug principle (simultaneous prohibition of addiction, trafficking and cultivation of drugs), making it the "simultaneous promotion of four prohibitions"principle. Public security authorities across the country have thenceforth intensified their operations against the manufacture and trafficking of methamphetamines and other drug-related crimes, and these operations have been crowned with outstanding success. From 1991 to 1999, China cracked 360 cases involving the production and trafficking of methamphetamines, dealing a heavy blow to such activities.

V. Treatment and Rehabilitation

To protect the physical and mental health of Chinese citizens, maintain public order, and wipe out once and for all the scourge of drugs, the Chinese government attaches great importance to and vigorously carries out the work of drug prohibition and the rehabilitation of addicts. To this end, it has adopted comprehensive measures for the rehabilitation of addicts, and their treatment and recovery, integrated with compulsory measures and social help and education, in a concerted effort to eradicate drug abuse and save drug addicts.

According to Chinese law, drug takers must be rehabilitated. Therefore, an investigation and registration system and monitoring networks of drug abuse have been established throughout the country, regularly collecting data and materials, and promptly monitoring the conditions of addicts. The State Council has promulgated the Procedures for Compulsory Drug Addiction Rehabilitation, and the related department has formulated the Guiding Principles for Commonly Used Therapies Applicable to Opiates Addicts and the Procedures for the Control of Pharmaceuticals for Drug Addiction Treatment, to standardize the work of the rehabilitation and treatment of addicts in China. The state has also established drug dependence research centers, drug abuse monitoring centers, drug dependence treatment centers and narcotic drugs laboratories, and organized scientific research institutions and experts to conduct research on scientific methods of rehabilitation for addicts and pharmaceuticals for drug addiction treatment. Proceeding from its concrete conditions, China has adopted various measures to rehabilitate addicts, taking compulsory measures as the main principle. All addicts are sent to compulsory rehabilitation centers established by governments at all levels. Those who resume drugs after receiving compulsory treatment are sent to reeducation-through-labor centers administered by judicial departments, where they are forced to undergo treatment side by side with reeducation through physical labor. Addicts who are unsuitable for receiving treatment in compulsory rehabilitation centers are ordered to give up within a definite time period under the guardianship of their family members and the education and administration of the local public security stations. Some local medical institutions also offer services for the rehabilitation and treatment of volunteer addicts. In some areas, measures adaptable to local conditions have also been taken to supervise and help addicts become rehabilitated through mass organizations and organizations at the grassroots level.

In China, addicts mainly receive treatment at compulsory rehabilitation centers and treatment and reeducation-through-labor centers-special schools for educating and saving addicts from ruin. Specific and concrete provisions are formulated in the Procedures for Compulsory Drug Addiction Rehabilitation on the construction, administration, rehabilitation measures and welfare provisions of compulsory rehabilitation centers. Chinese public security and judicial organs have also formulated regulations on the hierarchical and standardized administration of compulsory rehabilitation centers and treatment and reeducation-through-labor centers. Governments at all levels also earmark large amounts of funds for the establishment of special rehabilitation centers each year. At present, China has a total of 746 compulsory rehabilitation centers and 168 treatment and reeducation-through-labor centers (teams). In 1999, over 224,000 and 120,000 addicts received treatment at compulsory rehabilitation centers and treatment and reeducation-through-labor centers, respectively. The rehabilitation centers carry out strict, scientific and civilized administration according to law, adhering to the principle of saving addicts through reform education. They offer to addicts safe and scientific treatment, legal and moral education, and strict training to correct their behavior, and organize them to learn scientific and general knowledge, carry out varied and stimulating recreational and sports activities, and engage in appropriate productive labor, by which they can both improve their physical agility and master skills to earn their livings. All the income from their work is used to improve their living conditions. To fully respect and guarantee the legal rights and interests of addicts, the centers carry out an open security system and voluntarily lay their work open to the supervision of the deputies to the NPC and the general public. State narcotics control organs and health and anti-epidemic departments jointly carry out the work of survey, education, prevention and cure in connection with AIDS at the centers, and conduct investigations into HIV infection among addicts in some provinces. Endeavoring to realize standardized administration, a number of centers in Yunnan, Guizhou, Gansu and Guangdong provinces have created the experience of "undergoing treatment along hospital lines, offering education along school lines, managing the environment along garden lines and achieving rehabilitation along labor lines," and have been called "places of rebirth where I bade farewell to drugs" by many addicts.

To solve the difficult problem of the high rate of relapse, the Chinese government carries out the work of continuous help and education for rehabilitated addicts upon their return to society, relying on the masses and mobilizing all social forces. Local public security organs, community organizations, units and families closely cooperate with rehabilitation centers to establish a social help and education system and various types of help and education groups, and fully carry out the relevant measures, organically integrating compulsory rehabilitation with help, education and consolidation measures. Mass organizations, including the trade unions, the Communist Youth League (CYL) organizations, the women's federations and the associations of self-employed industrialists and businessmen, help with the work of rehabilitating addicted women, workers and staff members, young people and self-employed laborers by making full use of their own advantages, to great effect. Governments at all levels and grassroots organizations actively help the rehabilitated addicts to solve concrete problems in their life and work, so that they will not be discriminated against in employment or admission to higher education. Many addicts have returned to society and started to lead a new life upon successful rehabilitation. Narcotics prohibition and the rehabilitation of addicts are breakthrough points in the effort to completely solve the drug problem. In recent years, the Inner Mongolia and Guangxi autonomous regions and Yunnan, and Guizhou provinces have gradually probed a new way of motivating the drug control work as a whole-starting with the grassroots units (communities), and stressing drug prohibition and the rehabilitation of addicts, to establish "drug-free communities." The basic procedure is as follows: With small communities in cities (sub-districts) and the countryside (towns and townships) as the lowest units, and under the unified leadership of the organs of state power in the communities, establishing administrative and working responsibility systems of drug prohibition covering the whole community, dividing up the responsibilities and assigning a part to each unit and individual to realize the "drug-free" target and establish "drug-free communities," continuously enlarging their coverage, and finally realizing the "drug-free" target in a particular county, city or province. Baotou City in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is a model in this regard. The drug problem used to be very serious in the city. However, there has been a drive to pronounce communities there "drug-free" since 1994, stressing drug prohibition and the rehabilitation of addicts, and establishing the working system of dividing the responsibilities among the help and education groups and all the local grassroots units. In this way, a situation has been created where all people in Baotou are taking part in the anti-drug struggle. At present, the city has a total of 2,169 help and education groups, implementing the related measures to over 2,000 addicts, and the consolidation rate of rehabilitation over one year has reached more than 70 percent. It has also established 1,436 "drug-free communities" (90.2 percent of the total), and basically realized the "drug-free" target in the entire area.

Experiencehas proved that the drive to make communities drug-free conforms to the situation in China and the strategic requirements of mobilizing the entire people to treat the drug problem comprehensively. "Drug-free community" is an effective vehicle for protracted combat vs drugs. In 1999, the NNCC publicized nationwide the advanced experience of Baotou and other cities and made arrangements for activities to establish "drug-free communities" across the country.

VI. Raising the Consciousness of the Entire People Vs Drugs

The key to drug control work is to arouse the consciousness of the general public. China regards it as a fundamental and strategic task to raise the consciousness of the whole nation concerning the fight against drugs, and carries out extensive and deep-going drug prevention education among all the people.

Governments at all levels attach great importance to publicizing the dangers of drugs, and formulate plans every year to carry out drug prevention education to persuade the public to turn their backs on drugs. Local drug control departments often carry out education, publicity and consultation activities concerning the dangers of narcotics and the anti-drug laws, using the news media-newspapers, radio and television programs, and by other methods appealing to the general public, closely cooperating with the departments of publicity, culture, radio, film and television, and press and publications. The NNCC Office and its local branches have also opened special telephone lines providing advice and information on drug-related issues. Yunnan and some other provinces and cities have started periodicals and opened web pages on the Internet in this regard. Every year on June 3, the commemoration date of Lin Zexu's burning of opium stocks in Humen beach, Guangdong Province in 1839, and on June 26, the International Day Against Illicit Drug Trafficking and Abuse, local governments organize large-scale activities to publicize the dangers of narcotics. As drug taking is a major channel for the spread of AIDS, during the period of the World AIDS Day on December 1 every year, public health departments organize publicity activities, with the theme "refuse drugs, and prevent AIDS.”

From May to July, 1998, the Chinese government held a two-month national exhibition on drug control. A total of 1.66 million people from all walks of life, including Chinese state leaders and young students, visited it. The exhibition provoked strong repercussions, and exerted a far-reaching influence. The NNCC also turned the contents of the exhibition into a Wall Map of the National Exhibition on Drug Control for distribution throughout the country. It also organized half-year itinerant exhibitions throughout China, at which a total of over 166 million people received education directly. The success of the national exhibition on narcotics control brought China's publicity level in this regard to a new stage, and played an active role in raising the consciousness of the entire people about the drug problem, giving a boost to drug control work in an all-round way.

The Chinese government attaches special importance to drug prevention education for youngsters. Special provisions aimed at protecting young people from drugs are included in the Law of the PRC on the Protection of Minors issued at the 21st meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh NPC in 1991, and the Law of the PRC on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency issued at the 10th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth NPC in 1999. In pursuance of the guideline of paying special attention to education on narcotics control and prevention among youngsters, governments at all levels take the education of primary and middle school students as a basic part of narcotics control work. In 1997, the State Education Commission (SEC) and the NNCC issued a notice stipulating that drug control education as an integral part of education to improve people's cultural quality should become formally part of the program of ethical education in primary and middle schools, and that anti-drug education should be carried out in diverse forms and with definite aims in view in colleges and universities and primary and middle schools. The NNCC and SEC have jointly compiled a series of anti-drug education pamphlets for students. The CYL has also developed a variety of colorful activities to publicize the dangers of narcotics among young people, and mobilize them to fight against drugs. Many provinces and autonomous regions have unfolded the drug prevention education activities mainly for youngsters. In 1999, according to the requirements of the NNCC, drug control departments at the county level and above established communication centers of drug prevention education in 24,223 primary and middle schools to directly guide the work in schools.

In recent years, integrated with the efforts to develop "drug-free communities," drug control publicity activities have been gradually extended to communities to cover every nook and corner of society. Governments at all levels give every encouragement to sub-district offices, towns and townships, residents and villagers committees in their drug control work by strengthening the construction of organizations of political power at the grassroots level and self-governing mass organizations, and actively carry out basic work on narcotics prevention education, integrating this with the efforts to develop "civilized communities." In the meantime, trade unions, the CYL organizations and the women's federations at all levels carry out anti-drug education among workers and staff members, anti-drug publicity organized by young volunteers, and the activity known as "preventing drugs entering families." Local patriotic religious organizations actively mobilize religious believers and personages of religious circle to fight against drugs, carrying on their good tradition of shunning evil and promoting good. The associations of self-employed laborers and private enterprise operators at various levels have conscientiously carried out the recommendations in the Notice on Extensively Carrying Out Drug Prevention Education Among Self-employed Laborers and Private Enterprise Operators in China issued by the China Self-employed Laborers' Association, and strengthened drug prevention education among the 80 million employees of private enterprises. In recent years, the NNCC has sent various anti-drug publicity materials to compulsory rehabilitation centers, houses of detention, public security houses of detention, reformatories, reeducation-through-labor centers, prisons and work-study schools for juvenile delinquents throughout China to reinforce drug prevention education among the people who are most likely to fall victims to narcotics.

To make drug prevention education a systematic and regular practice, the NNCC has made overall arrangements to carry out the "five-one project" of anti-drug education nationwide from 1999 to 2001: Every province, autonomous region and municipality should establish a drug control education base; every primary and middle school, college and university should carry out an anti-drug education activity each year; and every district should organize a batch of research achievements on anti-drug publicity and theory, produce a number of literary and artistic works, and train a contingent of young volunteers in this regard. The state gives full support to Beijing, Guiyang in Guizhou Province, Dongguan in Guangdong Province and some other cities in their efforts to build permanent drug control education bases. In the meantime, China has published the Yearly Report on Drug Control in China since 1998.

VII. Developing International Cooperation in Drug Control

It is highly necessary to strengthen international cooperation in drug control to promote the battle against narcotics worldwide and radically solve the drug problem in China. On the basis of clinging to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence [mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence], China has all along actively participated in and promoted international cooperation in drug control and played an important role in this field.

The Chinese government takes an active part in international affairs connected with drug control. In June 1985, approved by the NPC Standing Committee, China acceded to the UN 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances that had been revised by the 1972 Protocol. In September 1989, China obtained the approval of the NPC Standing Committee to accede to the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, becoming one of the first member countries to it. Beginning in 1984, China has sent delegations many times to attend international drug control meetings held by the United Nations, the International Criminal Police Organization, the World Customs Organization and the World Health Organization. In October 1989, China held the Asian Region Anti-Drug Seminar in Beijing and in November 1996, hosted the International Stimulant Specialists Meeting in Shanghai. The Chinese government sent delegations to take part in the 17th and 20th UN special General Assembly sessions on drug control in February 1990 and June 1998, declaring the Chinese government's resolute anti-drug stand, policies and measures to the international community.

China is an active supporter and promoter of cooperation in drug control in the sub-region, as initiated by the UN. In May 1991, the NNCC of China hosted the first meeting of senior officials of China, Thailand, Myanmar and the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP) in Beijing, to discuss the proposal on multilateral cooperation against drug abuse in the sub-region. In June 1992, China, Myanmar and the UNDCP signed the China/Myanmar/UNDCP Joint Cooperation Project on Drug Control in Rangoon, Myanmar. In October 1993, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and the UNDCP signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Narcotic Drugs Control, which stressed keeping contacts between high officials to further the cooperation in drug control in the sub-region. On May 1995, China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and the UNDCP convened the first minister-level meeting on cooperation in sub-region drug control in Beijing. The meeting adopted the Beijing Declaration and signed the Sub-region Drug Control Program of Action. In 1999, the Chinese government sent delegations to attend the sub-region minister-level meetings in Japan and Laos to continue to promote enthusiastic cooperation in drug control in the sub-region.

China has constantly strengthened bilateral and multilateral cooperation in drug control with other countries. In 1985 China began to cooperate with the United States in drug control, and in 1987 the governments of the two nations signed the Sino-US Memorandum of Cooperation in Narcotic Drugs Control. In 1997, the heads of the two states signed the Sino-US Joint Statement containing contents on cooperation in drug control, which upgraded this cooperation between the two countries to a new level. Subsequently, the governments of China and the United States mutually accredited anti-drug liaison officers. Meanwhile, China attached importance to the cooperation in drug control with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. In April 1996, China and Russia signed the Agreement on Cooperation Against Illicit Trafficking and Abuse of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. In 1998 the heads of state of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed a joint statement, taking cracking down drug-connected and transnational crimes as major contents in cooperation among the five countries. In addition, the Chinese government has signed bilateral agreements on cooperation in drug control with the governments of Mexico, India, Pakistan, Colombia and Tajikistan. For many years, China has developed cooperation in many forms with the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Australia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia in anti-drug information exchange, training and law enforcement. Since 1996, China has successively established a liaison officer system of anti-drug law-enforcement cooperation in border areas with Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Russia. Besides, the police authorities of China, the United States, Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea have on many occasions jointly cracked cases of illicit traffic in drugs through international anti-drug information exchange and judicial cooperation, effectively deterring transnational drug-related crimes.

The Chinese government has done its utmost to enthusiastically help bordering countries to unfold anti-drug combat. Beginning in 1990, China has actively helped the northern parts of Myanmar and Laos, where poppies were traditionally planted, to promote alternative development by means of providing technological and agricultural support and developing tourism resources. These efforts, to some degrees, have promoted the economic and social development in that region, consequently helping to reduce the threats brought to China and international community by the "Golden Triangle" drugs. At the same time, China has received energetic support and help from the UNDCP in international cooperation.

Over the past 20 years or so, China has made outstanding achievements in drug control and gained a shower of praise from international community. In the meantime, the Chinese government has soberly realized that the waves of the rising international drug tide is buffeting China more severely than ever and such situation could not be eliminated in the short run. The drug problem is still rampant in China and therefore the fight against drug abuse in China is a heavy task, and there is a long way ahead in this regard. At this important moment when a new millennium is dawning on mankind and the old century is giving place to the new, international community has realized more unanimously than ever the urgency and importance of drug control. It is a common wish of people of all countries to solve the drug problem as soon as possible and to build this planet into a healthy, civilized, happy and beautiful world. During the new century, the Chinese government will wage an unremitting, thoroughgoing struggle against drugs nationwide and will not stop its efforts until drugs are eradicated. The Chinese government will, as always, strengthen cooperation with other countries and make unremitting efforts to completely eliminate narcotic drugs and build a world free from the drug scourge.

Note: The statistical data mentioned here do not include the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan Province.

    

Information Office of the State Council
of the People's Republic of China

June 2000, Beijing