More than 10,000 people participated in a march from the Summer Palace, representative of China's suffering in the Opium War 165 years ago, to the China Millennium Monument, a symbol of the country's 5,000-year-old civilization, to promote public awareness against drugs.
The 12-kilometer two-hour long march was one of the many nationwide activities to commemorate the UN-sponsored International Anti-Drug Day on Sunday.
Through strengthened efforts to clamp down on drugs, Beijing seized more than 30 kilograms of drugs in about 350 cases during the January-May period this year. In 2004, authorities seized about 73 kilograms of drugs in some 1,800 cases, said Ma Zhenchuan, director of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality razed more than 500 kilograms of seized drugs on Sunday, including heroin, opium, stimulant pills and "ice".
About 500 representatives from all walks of life participated in the ceremony and signed on a hundred-meter long scroll to show their support for the fight against drug abuse and trafficking.
Chongqing municipal police has cracked 7,398 drug cases, involving 214 kilograms of drugs and 5,788 offenders in the past year. Chongqing, China's youngest municipality that hugs the Yangtze River is a drug trafficking hub.
In Lhasa, the capital of southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region, anti-drug campaigners burnt about 500 kilograms of seized drugs.
The drugs set ablaze included 67 kilograms of heroin, 320 kilograms of poppy shell and seed, and 133 kilograms of narcotics distilled from hemp.
Tibet has strengthened its anti-drug measures, achieving some success, but it still faces a tough challenge because it is in between the "Golden Triangle" comprising Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, and the "Golden Crescent" of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, said Lei Jinxiang, deputy director of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Public Security Department.
Also on Sunday, Beijing opened two hotlines to provide information on drug rehabilitation through labor. Those requiring information on the subject can dial 1600225 or 010-60279522, according to the Beijing Reeducation Through Labor Administration under the Beijing Municipal Prison Administration.
(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2005)
