Experts say that it makes more sense to intensify efforts to promote education about drugs than to invest in compulsory treatment. Every yuan invested in the education campaign saves seven in the whole budget. The central government has given 400 million yuan to support drugs education during the past four years.

Around 3.5 million drug users in China use hypodermic injection as a means of drug delivery. In China, drug addiction is regarded as both a crime and an illness, but in many other countries, the condition is just seen as an illness.

In Asia as a whole, prevention and treatment are still in the early stages and are not keeping up with the trends of new drug use. Meanwhile, substitution treatment has not been encouraged.

According to a survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2009, more than 170 countries and regions have been involved in drug trafficking.

- Zhang Yuchen

(China Daily USA 06/24/2013 page8)