Pubdate: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Copyright: 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. Contact: PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191 Fax: (619) 293-1440 Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/ Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX Author: Associated Press CHINA ADMITS DRUG PROBLEMS, EXECUTES DEALERS BEIJING -- China marked U.N. anti-drug day yesterday by executing dealers, torching narcotics and publicly acknowledging the grim inroads drugs are making among Chinese, particularly the young. Those executed included three drug traffickers from Taiwan, a Hong Kong resident, two Shanghai heroin dealers, four dealers in the northern province of Shaanxi, three farmers in China's drug-afflicted southwest and four manufacturers of methamphetamine, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. It carried conflicting accounts on the total number of people put to death but said the executions made "a clear and compelling statement." China also executed at least 38 drug traffickers last week. In its first policy paper on China's drug problems, the government said yesterday that the number of registered drug addicts jumped from 148,000 in 1991 to 681,000 last year. Heroin was the drug of choice for 71 percent of addicts, and 79 percent were under age 35, according to the document issued by the State Council. More recent figures have put the number of registered addicts as high as 800,000, and a senior U.S. drug-control official has quoted Chinese estimates of 3 million to 12 million total drug users, out of China's estimated 1.25 billion people. "The drug scourge is becoming more serious with each passing day and the situation is grim for the anti-drug struggle," the policy paper said. Law enforcers "are waging a fierce battle against all drug-related criminal activities, administering merciless punishment to those involved." Between 1991 and 1999, China cracked more than 800,000 drug cases, confiscating almost 40 tons of heroin, 17 tons of opium, 15 tons of marijuana and 23 tons of methamphetamine, the paper said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D