Pubdate: Wed, 27 Jun 2007
Source: China Daily (China)
Page: 18
Copyright: 2007 China Daily
Contact: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/static_e/Contact_Us.html
Website: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4379
Author: Chen Zhiyong
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?158 (Club Drugs)

SEEING THROUGH THE CLUB-DRUG HAZE

Because of increasing pressure at work, low risk-awareness, peer 
pressure and easy access, club drugs are becoming increasingly 
popular among Chinese youth.

Xiao Liu, a college freshman studying in Beijing, frequents 
nightclubs on weekends. She often sees groups of young people taking 
drugs and then dancing frantically in drug-induced crazes. She would 
shun them, because she believed they were "dangerous" people.

These drugs, collectively termed "new-type drugs", or "club drugs", 
include marijuana, MDMA - a synthetic and psychoactive drug - and 
ketamine - a psychoactive known to induce dream-like states and hallucinations.

Trafficking of traditional drugs has decreased thanks to intensified 
crackdowns, according to director of National Institute of Drug 
Dependence of Peking University Lu Lin. But club drugs are 
flourishing in their place, because the ingredients are easily 
obtained and the processes for manufacturing them are simple. They 
can be easily produced in small, underground workshops.

Statistics from Beijing Public Security Bureau Drug Abstention Center 
show that the percentage of club-drug addicts has risen 15 percent in 
the past five years.

Du Xinzhong, a medical staffer from Jinhua Drug Abstention Center, in 
Zhejiang Province, has also seen the trends change.

Compared to the stable or even slightly decreased number of heroin 
addicts, the number of club-drug addicts in his center has increased 
several times over.

Because physical addiction to club drugs is less apparent than 
physical addiction to hard drugs, such as heroin, few addicts 
recognize their addictions.

Lu said that most users are younger Chinese, white-collar workers, 
sports stars and entertainers.

He says that scientific research has shown that the use of club drugs 
can cause serious health problems that many users are unaware of, and 
long-term use of these substances can cause deterioration of memory, 
recognition and brain growth.

Du considers club drugs even more harmful than heroin.

According to his clinical observations, the harm caused by long-term 
use of club drugs is irreversible and could lead to paranoia, 
hallucinations, depression and personality shifts.

Because many of these drugs have aphrodisiac-like effects and make 
users feel as if the barriers between people are brought down, some 
users become more inclined to participate in unsafe sex, which could 
transmit STDs such as HIV.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom