Drug cases surge 25% amid crackdown
By Jia Feishang |
June 2, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WITH police cracking down harder, drug cases in the city increased about 25 percent in the first five months this year, local authorities said yesterday.
Drug trafficking in the city was more active from January to April, when 87 percent cases were investigated. In May, the number of city cases dropped almost 50 percent, when the World Expo opened and neighboring provinces cracked down on drug dealing outside the city's borders.
Zhou Weihang, director of the Shanghai Anti-Drug Commission, said the drug dealers they caught in Shanghai before May were mainly stocking drugs because they realized police would keep closer watch when the Expo opened.
Local police have confiscated 123 kilograms of drugs so far this year, 25 percent more from last year.
"It indicates the city's drug market is still in need, with many drug users not recorded," Zhou said.
According to international practice, one known drug user represents four to eight addicts not recorded.
The city now records 32,716 drug users, a rate of about 15 people per 10,000 population; 217 were newly found in the first quarter this year.
More than 95 percent of the new drug addicts were using synthesized drugs, such as "ice" and ketamine, which can severely damage a user's nervous system and produce hallucinations. Last year, the rate was just over 80 percent for the same period.
More drug addicts were reported in suburban areas than in downtown, according to Zhou. Nearly 45 percent drug users were under the age of 35.
The commission found frequent cases in which addicts thought they were about to be murdered after taking these drugs and fatally hurt people while thinking they were defending themselves.
In March, a 30-year-old man who hallucinated after taking drugs for a long time stabbed his father seven times to death in a town of a neighboring province.
Drug trafficking in the city was more active from January to April, when 87 percent cases were investigated. In May, the number of city cases dropped almost 50 percent, when the World Expo opened and neighboring provinces cracked down on drug dealing outside the city's borders.
Zhou Weihang, director of the Shanghai Anti-Drug Commission, said the drug dealers they caught in Shanghai before May were mainly stocking drugs because they realized police would keep closer watch when the Expo opened.
Local police have confiscated 123 kilograms of drugs so far this year, 25 percent more from last year.
"It indicates the city's drug market is still in need, with many drug users not recorded," Zhou said.
According to international practice, one known drug user represents four to eight addicts not recorded.
The city now records 32,716 drug users, a rate of about 15 people per 10,000 population; 217 were newly found in the first quarter this year.
More than 95 percent of the new drug addicts were using synthesized drugs, such as "ice" and ketamine, which can severely damage a user's nervous system and produce hallucinations. Last year, the rate was just over 80 percent for the same period.
More drug addicts were reported in suburban areas than in downtown, according to Zhou. Nearly 45 percent drug users were under the age of 35.
The commission found frequent cases in which addicts thought they were about to be murdered after taking these drugs and fatally hurt people while thinking they were defending themselves.
In March, a 30-year-old man who hallucinated after taking drugs for a long time stabbed his father seven times to death in a town of a neighboring province.
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