Drug addicts battle their demons in rehab
Print Edition
XIAO Qin understands her fate: To spend every day of the rest of her life resisting the urge to take drugs.
“I regret the choices I made in the past. But at least I know what I have to do in the future,” she told Shanghai Daily from her room at the Women’s Rehabilitation Center in Qingpu District.
Now aged 35, the former nurse and dental assistant became hooked on heroin in 2002. Her boyfriend at that time was already an addict, though she was unaware of the fact when they met.
“I was angry and disappointed when I found out, but I was also curious,” she said.
“I loved him. So I thought that if I started using then stopped, he could see how it could be done,” she said.
The plan, not surprisingly, failed and Xiao quickly began a downward spiral.
She hit rock bottom in 2006 when she was caught taking drugs by the police and was subsequently ordered to spend 12 months at the Qingpu center, which is the only such facility for women in Shanghai.
“When I got out, I was determined to get my life and my career back on track,” she said. “I knew because of my record I could no longer work for a state hospital, so I got a job as a nurse at a private clinic.”
All went well for several years until she was reunited with her drug-addict boyfriend.
“I was confident I wouldn’t go back on heroin, but he introduced me to methamphetamine, which is what he was into at that time,” she said.
Xiao said that her boyfriend and his friends convinced her that “ice” wasn’t addictive. She believed them and became hooked once more.
“It didn’t seem as bad or as harmful as taking heroin, but later I learned that it would damage my central nervous system,” she said.
“The most noticeable thing was that my memory was failing. Once I took ‘ice’ before an exam and it was terrible. I couldn’t remember anything,” she said.
Learning through ‘reeducation’
It was only a matter of time before she was caught by the police, and in April last year she was ordered to spend a further two years in rehab. She is set to be released in April next year.
Xiao said she has been “reeducated” over the past 14 months and hopes she never has to return.
“Drugs can take over your whole life, but I want to get clean and get back into nursing. I plan to leave Shanghai and start over,” she said.
According to the city’s anti-drug authorities, the use of synthetic drugs is a growing problem in Shanghai. Of the 9,000 new drug users identified last year, more than 90 percent were hooked on “ice” and ketamine, both of which are more accessible and less expensive than heroin, officials said.
Zhuang Fan knows all too well the perils of using “ice.”
The 37-year-old was ordered to serve two years at the Gao Jing Rehabilitation Center in Baoshan District for doing just that.
A graduate of Peking University, one of China’s most prestigious schools, Zhuang said he got hooked on the drug in 2009 after starting work as the manager of the Shanghai branch of a famous Beijing-based fashion and entertainment company.
“I’d spent the previous years studying for a master’s and a PhD in the UK,” he said.
“I’d never thought about taking drugs, but once I started working in the entertainment business I found out it was really common,” he said.
Before he knew it, he was hooked.
“At first, I was just curious. Then in early 2013 at a gathering with friends, I decided to give ‘ice’ a try,” he said.
“I began taking it more and more often, like when I needed a boost before a business meeting. I was excited and had lots of energy,” he said.
The joy was short-lived, however, and between May of last year and January of this year Zhuang was caught by police three times taking drugs.
The third offense led to him being ordered to go into rehabilitation. He will not be released until January 2017.
“It was only when I came here that I realized what I’d been doing was illegal. I should never have taken such a risk for just a moment’s pleasure,” he said.
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