More youngsters are getting high

• Source: Global Times
• [09:14 June 03 2010]
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By Zhou Ping

More young adults, and especially females, are turning to ecstasy, crystal meth and ketamine to cope with life stresses, a growing trend that has some medical experts worried that the problem shows no signs of slowing anytime soon.

Two years after the country implemented its first-ever Anti-drug Law targeted at reducing the number of drug users, young people are accounting for the fastest-growing demographic of drug users, Qin Hongming, director of the China Sunshine Rehabilitation and Prevention Medical Center, told the Global Times Wednesday.

"Shared knowledge amongst medical experts and drug therapists show that young drug users, and women in particular, are climbing in numbers," he said, adding that young people in their 20s and 30s make up 70 percent of the addicts treated at his Shanghai-based center.

Some 15,000-plus young people under the age of 35 account for almost half of the estimated drug users in the city, and 9,000 of them were treated at mandatory rehabilitation centers over the past two years, according to a report released Wednesday by the Shanghai Business Daily. The study also said that drug-related cases in the city have this year jumped to nearly 1,000, up 25 percent from last year.

According to Qin, young people are more vulnerable to heading down the wrong path because they are too naïve about the dangerous consequences of taking drugs.

"In some cases, teenagers are only seeking fun, looking for things that are new and fresh," he said. "Because these newer drugs are less familiar to them, they don't realize that it is possible to become addicted even after just one try, and eventually they get so addicted that years later they cannot stop."

Young women are increasingly susceptible to falling into this trap, he added.

"Females are becoming more independent these days and because of that they are leading a more fashionable lifestyle," he said. "And as they wander around bars and clubs, it's especially easy for them to become victims of drugs."

Higher salaries and more disposable income among Chinese are also contributing to the problem, Chen Hanhui, a doctor at the Shanghai Drug Abuse Treatment Center in Minhang district, told the Global Times Wednesday.

"While the money spent on drugs ranges depending on how addicted drug users are, many can easily spend up to 20,000 yuan ($2,928) a month to support their habit," he said. "People who are around the age of 30 have this kind of money, which means they can satisfy their drug addiction."

Meanwhile, a local psychologist surnamed Zhang, who preferred to remain anonymous, attributed more people relying on drugs to their mounting desires of escaping personal struggles such as work pressures or relationship problems.

"But for young people, the risk of becoming addicted is much higher because they are more emotionally vulnerable since they deal with a lot more peer pressure and other challenges of growing up," he said.

"They are burdened with study, life and work," he added. "They don't feel comfortable confiding in their parents, and their friends cannot support them because they are also confused, so they try to seek happiness in a pretend world full of drugs."