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Heroin epidemic hits China



World: Asia-Pacific

Heroin epidemic hits China

Chasing the dragon: Heroin is easy to obtain in border villages

China is battling a heroin epidemic despite routinely executing smugglers.


After years of playing down the problem, officials now estimate there are
500,000 addicts across the country. And some say the real figure could be
much higher. The epidemic is particularly acute in Yunnan province which is
bordered by the poppy growing countries of Laos, Burma and Thailand.

Yunnan, in the deep south west, is estimated to have 100,000  addicts.

The province has eight compulsory rehabilitation camps run along military
lines. But the failure rate is high.

The drugs culture has brought with it problems of prostitution, crime and
Aids.

Drug abuse has been regarded with a sense of shame since the British began
profiting from the opium trade in the last century.

When the Communists came to power in China they took a hardline stance
against narcotics, going so far as to execute addicts.

But drugs continue to flood across the border and the number of addicts is
rising.
Yunnan's sniffer dog teams cannot check every vehicle entering China even on
the main smuggling route.

Fang Nai Jian of Yunnan's anti-drugs department supports execution for
traffickers.
''I think the death penalty is necessary to strike at the drugs problem,''
he said.  ''We
have a history of imposing the death penalty in China and we should use it
for drug
traffickers.''