It is September 16 and Wenzhou's port of Shitang, Zhejiang Province, brims with fishing vessels. Hundreds of craft are setting out on voyages of six months or more; some sailing to Japan and South Korea, some as far as Africa.

Eighteen young people addicted to drugs, who have all failed previous attempts at detoxification and rehabilitation, stepped aboard 18 of the boats for an even greater journey. They have signed an agreement with the boats' skippers committing themselves to a new program promoted by the local Public Security Department.

The crews all know the rules: they are not even allowed to use the word "drug" in the coming months. Many used to be drug-dependent themselves and kicked their own habits working at sea; three even have their own boats now.

Zhu Zhengde, official of Shitang's Narcotics Control Office, has been keeping track of the number of addicts living in the town. According to him, the number in one village of 2,000 residents increased from 17 to 20 in the third quarter this year.

Because of the high risks that fishermen take when working at sea, many young people don't want to go into their fathers' line of work. With not much else to do, some end up using drugs. Zhu says that some parents, desperate to keep their children from getting involved, do everything they can to get them into the army.

Li Nan used to be an addict. After graduating from junior high school, he stayed at home with nothing to do, eventually getting into drugs. He was sent to drug rehabilitation centers three times but relapsed again and again. "I even considered sending him to prison," his father recalls.

Li's father captains a fishing boat. He once heard a fellow seaman complaining that working at sea was like being in prison. "We can go nowhere except the 30-square-meter board for about seven months." The idea took root, and Li Nan went out on his father's boat in September 1997, returning the following March. He says he hasn't touched drugs since.

Officials at the local Narcotics Control Office took notice of Li's story: "There are 2,400 fishing boats in Shitang. Ocean journeys can last as long as seven months. If an addict is brought out to sea, the connection between him and drugs is cut," they realized.

They decided to extend the idea to help other addicts go through detox and the first 12 were sent out on 12 different boats in February 1999. Since then, about 120 boats and 107 addicts have volunteered to take part in the program.

Captain Du was one of those to volunteer his boat, and now he employs an ex-user as his engineer. According to Du, the engineer used to own a machinery factory but went bankrupt several years ago because of his habit.

After working with Du, he learned how to fish and fix the boat. "Detoxification on the boat is quite different from detoxification in a drug rehabilitation center. At sea I could sleep for only four hours each day and had to work the rest of the time. In rehab I just slept all the time. I got used to working on the boat and love it now," said the engineer. He got married six months ago and is currently working hard to buy his own vessel.

Yang Hui's clinic is close to the town's shipbuilders. He began to use drugs after getting his medical degree and opening his own clinic. "I thought I could control myself at the beginning as a doctor. I was wrong," recalls Yang. "I went to a drug rehabilitation center and stayed there for 23 days. I tried 43 times in eight months to get rid of drugs, but relapsed 43 times."

Finally, Yang Hui went out on one of the boats. "The first seven days in the boat were nightmarish for me. I couldn't eat anything but the chocolate and fruit my mom had prepared for me, and disgorged later. At that time I only weighed 40 kilograms. Sometimes I really wanted to return to the town with the other boats and buy drugs. Sometimes I even wanted to jump into the sea. Time passed by, and three months later my weight rose to 60 kilograms. I could do odds and ends in the boat. I finally found that I never wanted to touch drugs again during my sixth month at sea."  
                                                                        
Yang went back home after an eight-month journey and reopened his clinic. In order to test his resolve, he went out with his friends. When a friend offered him drugs, he refused and left. "At that moment I knew I had walked out from the shadow of drugs," recalls Yang.

The Narcotics Control Office in Shitang says that only 8 of the 107 people who have been on the program have relapsed. Now, the Public Security Department of Zhejiang Province is promoting the method throughout its coastal cities of Ningbo, Zhoushan and Wenzhou.     

(China.org.cn by Wu Nanlan, November 1, 2004)