Pubdate: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 Source: China Daily (China) Contact: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/911 HIGH-POWERED TV DOCUMENTARY AIDS ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN CCTV, China's central television, is broadcasting a high-powered TV documentary warning people about drugs, particularly the fast spreading amphetamine-type stimulants "ice" and "Ecstasy", also known as the "head-shaking" pill. The addicts are seen rocking forwards and shaking their heads violently in darkness. They rock and shake on and on, unable to control themselves, unaware that the pills that make them move in this way are steadily taking away their health, and their life. The production of "New Types of Narcotics: Disaster of this Century" was commissioned by China's National Narcotics Control Commission (NNCC), which expects it to play an important educational role in the coming nation-wide anti-drug campaign mainly dealing with amphetamine- type stimulants. The campaign chooses amphetamine-type stimulants as targets as the NNCC believes such drugs have become rampant in the dance venues of large and medium-sized Chinese cities. "Ice" was unknown in China before the 1990s but it has spread quickly. China uncovered 190 cases of "ice" production and sale in 1999, with seized "ice" totaling 16 tons + more than double the amount seized over the previous eight years. China reported the seizure of 4.6 tons of "ice" and 1.87 million ecstasy tablets in the first 11 months of 2001. Drug abusers, mostly youngsters that frequent the discos in large and medium-sized cities, have become addicted to the stimulants as they naively think they are "fun", unaware of the great danger or risk of death that the pills pose. The NNCC expects the documentary to play an important role in this campaign. "Using this documentary as the basis, we'll launch a nation- wide publicity campaign to help turn youth and drug-prone people away from amphetamine "ice" and "shaking-head pills", said a NNCC circular. Jia Chunwang, minister of Public Security and concurrently NNCC director, and Bai Jingfu, NNCC deputy director, oversaw the making of this documentary. It's aired on CCTV channel-I at 21^The producers said that it is the first anti-drug documentary in the world focusing on amphetamine-type stimulants. China has long struggled against narcotics. Resistance to the huge influx of opium even dragged China into a war with opium-selling countries back in 1840-1842, in which China was defeated and forced to sign a number of humiliating treaties. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in October 1949, China enjoyed a 30-year long narcotics-free period thanks to intensive anti-drug work. But in the 1980s narcotics reappeared in the country along with China's opening up to the outside world. The new China has been resolute in anti-narcotics work. Under China's criminal law, smugglers of more than 50 grams of heroin can be sentenced to death. Drug abusers are subject to a maximum detention of 15 days and compulsory treatment. By the end of October 2001, the number of registered drug addicts in China had reached 901,000, of which 745,000 were heroin addicts. Some 286,000 of these drug users were treated in rehabilitation centers in the first ten months of last year. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens