Drug addicts may be able to attend community correction programs
before moving to compulsory rehabilitation centers.
The country's first draft anti-drug law, submitted yesterday to
the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee for second
reading, says police can order drug addicts to attend community
correction programs for up to three years.
Addicts refusing community help or failing community correction
will be forced into compulsory isolation rehabilitation programs
that can last up to another three years, says the draft law.
The draft stipulates neighborhood offices of city or township
governments in rural areas should be responsible for community
correction programs.
Forced rehabilitation treatment usually lasts three to six
months now and it's the only choice for drug addicts. But
lawmakers, law enforcement agencies and experts have often
criticized the practice as being too merciless and too short to be
effective.
During the legislation process, many lawmakers and experts had
suggested rehabilitation measures be made more human-oriented,
especially for new or light addicts, NPC Law Committee Deputy
Director Hong Hu said in a report to the NPC Standing
Committee.
"Therefore, we consider it necessary to make such a change," he
said.
Also, the draft law advocates a "non-discriminatory environment"
for people undergoing rehabilitation, which means they can have
access to education, employment and social security support. It
forbids rehabilitation centers from physically punishing or even
verbally humiliating addicts.
Lawmakers have welcomed the latest revision. "It's a good
change," said Xu Rongkai, deputy director of NPC's education,
science, culture and health committee.
He said he had been working for many years in Southwest China's
Yunnan Province, where the drug problem is particularly
serious.
"Yunnan, as far as I know, has more than 50 community
rehabilitation centers. They have proved very effective," Xu
said.
Beijing's first community drug rehabilitation center, the
Sunflower Community, which provides not only detoxification
treatment, but also behavior shaping, psychological rehabilitation
and vocational training, has proved successful too.
Xiao Deng, a 29-year-old woman who took drugs for eight years,
has been treated in many rehabilitation centers. And she said she
likes the community model better.
"In the drug rehab centers that I have been before, addicts were
mostly kept in rooms instead of being made to attend different
activities like in the Sunflower Community," she said.
Lawmakers, however, did question the period of community
correction programs. "I think three years is too long because
community correction is still something new and many communities
don't have enough resources," lawmaker Wen Shizhen said.
Other legislators suggested the law set detailed regulations on
the use of substitute drugs in community correction programs.
(China Daily October 26, 2007)