Synthetic drugs posing challenges in fight against cross-border trade
Print Edition
SYNTHETIC drugs in southwest China’s Yunnan Province are posing challenges to its anti-drug efforts, experts warned yesterday ahead of today’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
Yunnan, which borders the notorious international drug source of the “Golden Triangle,” has long been at the forefront of the country’s fight against illegal drugs.
Many synthetic drugs are smuggled in disguised as coffee, candy, juice and tea and it is more difficult to uncover such cases, said Li Jun, deputy director of the public security bureau in the province’s Menghai County in Xishuangbanna Prefecture.
Synthetic drugs are becoming a problem not only in cities, but also in the countryside, said Li.
“It is much easier to consume synthetic drugs. Also, many people think it is easier to give them up than traditional drugs like heroin,” he said. “But actually, synthetic drugs could have a bigger impact on people’s nervous systems and therefore it is more difficult to kill the addiction.”
Yan Shangzhi, deputy director of Yunnan’s public security department, said: “More and more drug addicts are taking new synthetic drugs such as crystal meth and the anti-drug campaign faces mounting challenges.”
In Menghai, about 95 percent of drug addicts consume new synthetic drugs, while in Xishuangbanna the proportion is about two-thirds.
Li Jidong, head of a drug rehab center in the city of Pu’er, said many traffickers put several drugs together to make new drugs. “In such cases, it is more difficult to kill the drug addiction,” he said.
An addict at the center recalled her first experience with drugs. “I drank alcohol with friends in 2013 and they told me to eat ‘red beans’ to dispel the effects of the alcohol, but I couldn’t fall asleep after taking them.
“I made several attempts to give up, but all failed,” she said, declining to be named.
In Pu’er, 79 percent of the drugs seized in 2013 were crystal meth, or ice, compared with about 50 percent in 2009, police said.
Despite the challenges, police authorities in Yunnan are continuing to wage war on drug smuggling.
Between 2005 and 2010, local police captured 109,000 drug smugglers and seized 51.6 tons of drugs.
They have beefed up publicity on drug control and also strengthened cooperation with anti-drug police in neighboring countries in fighting the cross-border drug trade.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
