Drug use of youngsters on the up
(eastday.com)
Updated: 2004-06-17 09:01

Youngsters account for 50% of addicts.

Shanghai officials are worried about the prevalence of drug use among local youngsters.

More than 50 percent of the city's some 17,000 registered drug addicts are teenagers and young people in their 20s, officials said. Moreover, people under the age of 18 are the biggest users of ecstasy, or the "head-swaying pill" as it is known locally.

Officials said the city must do a better job of educating youngsters to avoid drugs.

With International Anti-Drug Day arriving next Saturday, a group of young rehabbing drug addicts is giving lectures at local middle schools and universities to share their experiences with students and advise them to avoid drugs.

"All of society, families and school authorities should be responsible for preventing youngsters from becoming addicted to drugs," said Liu Yungeng, vice party secretary of Shanghai.

Officials say the number of addicts in the city is increasing quickly and users are becoming younger. There were only 8,437 registered addicts in the city in 1999, but that number had risen to 15,000 by last year.

Officials say the real number of addicts in the city is probably much higher, but they can't say for sure just how high.

Most of the drug addicts in Shanghai are male however the number of female addicts has been on the rise in recent years, experts said. Also more than 80 percent of the local drug addicts reportedly have no jobs, leading many to commit crimes to fund their habits, police said.

"We found many drug addicts commit other offense to fund their drug habits, such as robbery and burglary," said Huang Shunmei, who is in charge of the local cop's compulsive drug rehabilitation institute. The institute set up a social service group last year, in an effort to prevent drug addiction.

About 130 members of the group went to four districts - Pudong, Luwan, Xuhui and Zhabei - to conduct a pilot program that had counselors follow addicts, educating them about the harm drugs do and offering them advice on problems they came across.