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."??
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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)???