NEWS - Fighting Heroin Habits the

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Subject: NEWS -  Fighting Heroin Habits the Chinese Way

Captivity and Labor: Fighting Heroin Habits the Chinese Way

               AP
               21-JUN-99

               KUNMING, China (AP) -- At a walled campus in China's
               southwest, where heroin is cheap and plentiful,
recovering
               addicts as young as 16 sit at tables making paper bags.
               Outside, others shout and march in military-style drills. 

               The compound is run by police, and its 2,000 residents
are
               there unwillingly, prisoners of China's policy of
fighting
               growing drug abuse by locking up addicts to break their
               habit. 

               Treatment is simple: three months of labor, counseling
and a
               regimented schedule. It is little changed from the
formula the
               Communist Party used after taking power in 1949 to stamp
               out opium smoking. Residents raise pigs, run the laundry
               and sing in a chorus. 

               To that, the Kunming center -- China's biggest -- has
added
               a new element, traditional herbal medicine. Instead of
relying
               on methadone, a heroin substitute commonly used to ease
               withdrawal, the center says its addicts receive only
herbal
               capsules of its own invention. 

               "For the first three to seven days, we give them the
               medications. After that, they don't need them," said Fan
               Laijian, the center director. 

               It isn't clear how well that method works. Independent
               researchers haven't studied it. A group of foreign
reporters
               given a tightly scripted tour of the center was shown a
list of
               the ingredients in the herbal treatment. But Fan would
not
               allow samples to be taken away. 

               The listed ingredients are used as sedatives and blood
               detoxifiers, said Benjamin Chan, a lecturer in the
traditional
               Chinese medicine program at the University of Hong Kong.
               He added that the mixture could reduce withdrawal
               symptoms. 

               The center says 85 percent of addicts treated there go
back
               to heroin. That is comparable to a 75 percent average in
the

               United States and elsewhere, but it isn't clear how the
               Chinese figures are measured. 

               Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, lies at the heart of
a
               booming drug trade. Bordering major producers Burma and
               Laos, Yunnan is the gateway for a flood of heroin that
flows
               north to Chinese cities or east to the coast for shipment
to
               the West. 

               Until a mid-1990s crackdown, drug deals took place openly
               on Kunming streets, local people say. Police say heroin
is
               readily available for 100 yuan ($12.50) per gram. 

               Authorities say mandatory treatment has cut Yunnan's
               number of known addicts by 23 percent since 1991, but it
               still has at least 44,000. Nationwide, China reports
540,000
               addicts, but independent researchers say the real number
is
               much higher. 

               Yunnan's heroin trade is growing in spite of the decline
in
               users, with seizures by police up 30 percent last year,
said
               Sun Dahong, the province's chief anti-drug official. 

               "The drug problem in Yunnan remains severe," he said. 

               Residents of the 10-year-old Kunming center reflect
China's
               demographics of drug use: Three-quarters male, 80 percent
               under 25 and many jobless. 

               Chen Kuan, 24, seems typical. Unemployed and bored, he
               said he smoked heroin with friends for a little over a
year
               before being sent to the center two months earlier. 

               "After I came here, I lost interest in drugs. It's
nothing at all
               now," Chen said as he pasted together tiny paper bags
               destined to hold powdered Chinese medicines. 

               But his chances of staying clean are low, especially if
he
               can't find a job -- a difficult goal in a time of
wrenching
               economic reforms. 

               Unemployment "is a big factor contributing to the relapse
               rate," said Zhang Yuzu, political director of the center. 

               Former residents can be returned to the center up to
three
               times, "but if they have a lot of relapses, we can send
them
               to a labor camp," said Fan, the director. 

               Set amid vegetable fields on the outskirts of Kunming,
the
               center is a complex of gray concrete buildings that looks
               more like a high school than a prison. 

               During a visit by reporters, a group of residents played
               basketball with guards. About 60 listened to a health
lecture
               by a white-coated police officer. Haggard recent arrivals
               stood in line waiting for their thrice-daily dose of
herbs. 

               Despite being in captivity, residents have to pay up to
4,000
               yuan ($500) for their treatment. Part of that comes from
sales

               of pigs and goods made by residents, which bring in about
               $250,000 a year. 

               "Most of them cannot pay their rehabilitation costs, so
they
               work here to pay them," Fan said. 

                 Copyright 1999& The Associated Press