China losing patience

Drugs

China losing patience

China has recently become close to calling a spade a spade, according to Chinese-Shans in Yunnan.

"In the past, drugs were always 'coming from the Golden Triangle', never from Burma," said a businessman of Shan nationality, known as Dai (Tai) in China. "Now they are coming from 'across the border'."

Shan officials in Yunnan's Dehong autonomous prefecture, opposite northern Shan State, also question the annual output figures given by the UN and US that have been shrinking each year. "What we are seeing here in Mongmao (Ruili) is a rise not only in trafficking but also addictions," said a drug enforcement source who finds more than 3,000 users in Ruili's Zegang neighborhood alone, at least 10% of them female. "If there is really a drop in the production then the logical question is from where are we getting all the dope?"

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Burma's 2003-2004 output was 370 tons, down from the previous season's 810.

China's drug busters are also reportedly sour about Burma's ability to hand over less than 10 of its 34 drug fugitives taking refuge there.

China has since the beginning of the year have been waging a revitalized campaign on three fronts: HIV/AIDS, Drugs and Gambling.

On the drug front, increased vigilance is being placed in 3 areas: border crossings from Burma, the road network from the border to Kunming (Nawng Sae) and another leading from Kunming to Guangzhou and on to Hong Kong.

One reason for the upsurge in drug trafficking and drug abuse in China has been given as the all-out War on Drugs in Thailand that has forced the drug operators in Burma to reroute their products into other neighboring countries including China. Another reason is the typical Chinese approach to life: It is better to die than to be poor.

This year with most reports agreeing that opium output in Burma's Shan State is once again on the increase side, the Middle Kingdom has immense cause to worry, said the sources.

Drugs, especially opiates, have been a historical pain in the neck for China, according to them. "The bitter memories of the 1840-42 Opium Wars bury deep inside their psyche," said a learned Shan. "With the Japanese, it's Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With the Chinese, it's the Opium Wars."

Bangkok Post, 25 March issue, reported that there are 1.14 million addicts in China, equally divided between heroin and methamphetamine, quoting Yang Fengrui, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security, who said, "The situation has begun to deteriorate."