Two men pull up weeds in a vegetable garden in a compulsory drug rehabilitation center on June 9 in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. Photo: CFP

Female inmates practice a dance. Photo: CFP

Male inmates queue to have lunch. Photo: CFP

A medical worker gives out medicine to drug addicts who are receiving compulsory rehabilitation treatment in the center. Photo: CFP

An inmate cleans a pigsty. Photo: CFP

The International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking falls on June 26, and various anti-drug activities and promotions have been launched nationwide.

Official statistics show that the drug use is growing fast in China despite a tightened crackdown.

By the end of 2014, authorities had registered a total of 2,955,000 drug users, Vice Minister of Justice Zhang Sujun told the Legal Daily in a recent report. The number of actual drug users is estimated to exceed 14 million, he noted.

In 2014 alone, 887,000 people were seized using drugs, 30 percent more than in 2013, according to the minister.

The number of registered synthetic drug users for the first time surpassed traditional drug users, and is increasing 36 percent annually, Zhang said.

This is leading to a sharp increase in the number of inmates in governmental centers for compulsory isolation for drug rehabilitation.

The No.1 Compulsory Detoxification Center in Jiujiang, East China's Jiangxi Province, is one of 334 such centers in China. Built in 1996, it has a total of 300 people who are forced to quit drugs through medical and psychological treatment and physical rehabilitation training.

According to China's Anti-Drug Law, if a drug addict refuses to receive treatment for drug addiction in the community, or uses drugs during or after the treatment of drug addiction, public security organs have the right to put the drug user into rehabilitation centers.

The period for the compulsory rehabilitation is two to three years.

These centers also receive drug addicts who are willing to receive compulsory isolation for drug rehabilitation.

In addition to helping them quit drugs, the centers also offer various skill training classes for them to seek jobs after leaving the centers, such as cooking, textile making, housekeeping and electrical repair.

Now, 240,000 drug addicts are receiving treatment in compulsory isolation centers in China, including nearly 9,000 HIV carriers, Zhang said.