China's National Narcotics Control Commission (NNCC) announced
on Wednesday it has seen positive results in drug enforcement and
rehabilitation as the result of a data bank established last year
to monitor drug addicts.
Files of more than 785,900 drug users had been included in the
data bank by end of March. The Ministry of Public Security launched
the monitoring system in August of last year.
The system aims to determine the number of China's drug users,
verify their identities, and monitor their current situation, said
an official with NNCC.
Police in east China's Fujian used the information in the data bank
to crack a drug trafficking case recently, said the official.
Local police received a report on Jan. 5 that a man sold drugs
in the entertainment sites of Zhangzhou City of Fujian Province.
Police checked the data bank which helped to identify the
suspect.
Six suspects were arrested by police on March 9, and more than
1,100 grams of drugs were confiscated, said the official.
Police data showed that China's number of drug users grew 35
percent in the five years since 2000, to hit 1.16 million in early
2005.
The number dropped to 720,400 in August of 2006 as a result of
compulsory rehabilitation measures and strict checks on chemicals
and narcotics, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2007)