China marked International Anti-Drugs Day last week with a mix of the old and the new. In the run-up, at least 10 drug traffickers were executed around the country, and the usual series of drug-related statistics were announced.
The day also marked the culmination of a week-long series of events and TV programmes aimed at briefing the public on the mainland's war against drugs and educating them on the dangers of drug abuse.
But the announcements about executions were kept more low-key than usual this year. Also, authorities were unusually frank in their assessment of the growing drug-addiction problem. And there was even a touch of show business, with an anti-drugs road tour featuring a host of well-known stars.
While June 26 is officially known as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the date has become synonymous with drug-related executions on the mainland, and tarnishes the more positive action taken by Beijing.
Questions have been raised as to the effectiveness of the execution approach. Does it really work? The latest statistics on drug trafficking seem to say 'no'. Last year police arrested 58,000 suspected traffickers and seized 6.9 tonnes of heroin. Yet, the situation is getting worse. China counted 785,000 drug addicts at the end of last year, with 89 per cent addicted to heroin. Of the heroin addicts, 69 per cent were below the age of 35.
The use of new drugs - such as Ice, or methamphetamine, and Ecstasy - is also spreading, particularly among young people, and the amount of foreign involvement in drug trafficking is growing. While the Golden Triangle - Myanmar, Thailand and Laos - remains the main source of heroin, the Golden Crescent - spanning Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran - is now supplying an increasing flow of Ice and heroin.
In a bid to tackle the problem, Beijing launched a 'people's war on drugs' in April last year. This grass-roots approach is reminiscent of the 'mass line' method of intimidation used by Mao Zedong and his followers to rid China of wide-scale opiate addiction in 1949. There were an estimated 70 million drug users in China at the time. However, it took only three years to declare the country officially 'drug free'.