Premier visits drug addicts at rehab center

"I'm here to visit you. How long have you stayed here?"

"More than one month."

"How old are you?" "

"Twenty-one."

This was not a dialogue between someone and a tourist, but Premier Wen Jiabao and a drug-addicted girl who had been trying to give up the bad habit at the Wuhan Drug Abstaining Center under the Municipal Public Security Bureau. It is one of the largest drug rehab centers in the country and has 1,360 beds.

During the unprecedented visit, on June 10, Wen told the addicts that his visit showed the government's enormous concerns over the issue of drug control and abstaining. "You had taken a wrong turn, but it doesn't matter. Come back and take the bright road," he told the residents. "Your family members must be missing you so much."

The addicts had violated the law but they are victims themselves, said the premier, who advised the work staff of the agency to treat these people as patients and save them with humanism.

Wen asked these addicts to, firstly, remember China as a victim of drugs and the Opium War in 1840, which was waged by western powers who were trying to transport drugs into China. Currently, China has 1.05 million drug addicts who live in almost 80 percent of Chinese cities and counties.

Wen told the people, mostly young ones, secondly, to think about their parents. "It is really hard for your parents to bring you up," he noted.

Thirdly, he advised them to ponder their own future. "Your future will become bright, if you are determined to abandon the drugs," he said.

"Please keep in mind my words and the day June 10, when the premier said them to you," Wen told these people, most of whom were weeping.

The drug rehab center is located in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, central China.

During his study tour in Hubei, the premier called for complete awareness about the seriousness of the issue and the utmost importance of drug control.

"We must never let the drug issue affect the economic development, social stability and people's health," he said.

The premier said that the government will mobilize all resources to fight drugs. Top priority must be given to creating awareness about drugs among the public, young kids in particular, Wen stressed.

He pledged to exert great efforts to fight drugs and strictly crack down on drug-related crimes.

Source: Xinhua