China Says Drug Addiction Up, Fueling Crime, Spread of AIDS

The number of known drug addicts in China has topped 900,000, fueling crime and the spread of AIDS, state and media said Monday. The reports said more than 30 percent of robberies are committed by addicts to pay for drugs. In addition, two-thirds of new AIDS cases are linked to needle sharing by heroin users. The news reports said some 286,000 addicts were sent to mandatory drug rehabilitation centers in the first 11 months of 2001. Police seized some 14.6 tons of heroin and opium, 4.6 tons of methamphetamine and almost 2 million pills of the amphetamine ecstasy, Xinhua News Agency said. The reports add to the new openness about AIDS and drug abuse in China after years of official denial that neither was a serious problem.

China has 28,133 confirmed AIDS cases, though experts say the number of people infected is probably more than 600,000. The total of 901,000 addicts known to police is up from 860,000 at the end of last year, Xinhua said, citing Minister of Public Security Jia Chunwang. Jia said China will cooperate more closely with Myanmar and Laos -- neighboring countries in the drug-producing "Golden Triangle." He said they would cooperate on drug seizures and in introducing crops to substitute for opium cultivation.

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