From: [w--li--h] at [ix.netcom.com](William House ) Newsgroups: alt.usa-sucks,talk.politics.misc,talk.politics.drugs,alt.censorship,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.society.labor-unions,alt.politics.economics,alt.flame.rush-limbaugh,talk.politics.guns,talk.atheism,aus.flame.usa,alt.drugs,rec.drugs.cannabis Subject: Newt's Drug War Death Sentence doesn't work in China. Date: 6 Jan 1996 22:00:04 GMT Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrichs' call for vice crime death sentences for drug offenses in America doesn't bring a drug-free China: BEIJING, Jan 2 (Reuter) - The number of drug addicts in China is rising rapidly and is estimated by experts to have reached one million, more than double the number of addicts who are registered, a researcher said on Tuesday. ``The number of drug addicts has risen by 100,000 a year since 1993,'' Sun Baochen, of the Economics Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said by telephone. ``In 1993 there were 170,000 registered drug addicts, in 1994 270,000 and in 1995 380,000,'' he said. ``Experts estimate the real figure at one million,'' Sun said. ``Before, the most popular drug was opium. Now an increasing amount of heroin is consumed.'' he said. One gram (0.035 ounce) of heroin sold for 300-500 yuan ($38-63.5) in Beijing, Sun added. Drug trafficking had spread from southwest China, which borders the Golden Triangle opium growing region, to the north. In recent cases, drugs had been smuggled through China to the former Soviet Union and Japan, Sun said. Local governments in China's Yunnan and Guangxi provinces have sent experts to the Golden Triangle countries, Laos, Burma and Vietnam, to plant cash crops on drug-growing land and help end the cultivation, the Guangming Daily said on Tuesday. Farmers in one area could earn 2,300 yuan ($277) per 0.0667 hectare (0.16 acre) from growing tea and 2,000 yuan ($241) per 0.0667 hectare from growing tobacco, compared with 1,200 yuan ($145) from growing opium, the newspaper said. From 1991 to September 1995, China dealt with 125,000 drugs cases, arrested 189,000 criminals, seized 15.8 tonnes of heroin, 10.6 tonnes of opium, 3.4 tonnes of marijuana and 2.3 tonnes of amphetamines, official figures show. In a two-month campaign in mid-1995, 101 criminals were executed for drug trafficking. The death penalty is given to anyone caught with more than 1,000 grams (35 ounces) of opium or 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of heroin, official reports say. > World Drug War III A War by Governments on their Citizens. With the Popes' permision. Drug War Nazis Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton - what's the Difference? Vote Libertarian!!!