Pubdate: Mon, 12 Feb 2001
Source: Times, The (UK)
Copyright: 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  PO Box 496, London E1 9XN, United Kingdom
Fax: +44-(0)171-782 5046
Website: http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Author: Oliver August

CHINA SENDS TEENAGE ADDICTS TO MENTAL HOSPITALS

CHINA is executing drug dealers every week and locking up users, some of 
them under 18, in mental hospitals. The harsh regime is designed to contain 
a drugs epidemic seen as a threat to social stability. China traditionally 
has been plagued by opium, although the Communist Party temporarily 
eradicated drug use. Now synthetic drugs from the former Soviet Union are 
replacing opium derivatives such as heroin. Official figures show that the 
use of drugs, including Ecstasy and amphetamines, is up by more than 25 per 
cent on last year. The official number of addicts is

860,000 in a population of 1.2 billion. The crackdown has had a sharp 
effect on young club-goers, particularly in coastal cities. Many wind up in 
mental hospitals and are left there until a ?3,000 bribe is paid. Once 
brimming nightclubs are half empty because regulars fear police raids.

Witnesses described a recent raid on a nightclub in Beijing during which 21 
people were arrested and many more intimidated. "Police came running in, 
screaming, at half past two," one clubber said. "The first thing they did 
was to throw out all the foreigners. They were only interested in busting 
the locals."

Plainclothes officers divided the Chinese into those who could pay large 
bribes immediately and those who could not. Another witness said: "They 
knew exactly the sort of people who would have enough money to pay up 
immediately, like people from the music industry. Once this was done, the 
plainclothes police left."

The remaining 100 Chinese had to kneel for up to five hours while waiting 
for urine drug tests on site. Those testing positive were taken away to 
mental hospitals, supposedly to be treated for addiction. They were locked 
in freezing rooms and cut off from almost all contacts outside. Some have 
been allowed to use the telephone to solicit money for bribes from friends.

More than two months after the raid, some of the 21 arrested are still 
locked up with no legal recourse. They have been told that the standard fee 
to get out is ?3,000, the average annual salary in China.

China's official media published accounts of group executions of drug 
dealers last week. The Legal Daily reported the execution of six members of 
a drugs gang in Guangdong Province. According to human rights groups, 
similar executions take place every week.
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