China declares war on some drugs - again

A "senior security official in China declared a "people's war" against drugs this week.

"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.

They already have a big head start on the project.

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, or ecstasy, 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.

They certainly have a large pool of potential arrestees.

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

And while the authorities complain of being under equipped in the fight, they apparently have plenty of manpower.

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.

The report fails to mention that China has been routinely executing drug dealers for a very long time and although authorities claim this hard line approach has curbed the market, they don't seem to be running out of addicts. Proving that you can no more execute your way out of drug abuse than you can incarcerate your way out of it.