Addiction Treatment in China Means Physical Abuse, Forced Labor

Drug users forced into addiction rehabilitation by the Chinese government face years of physical abuse and forced labor but get no actual treatment, the New York Times reported Jan. 8.

A single positive drug test — sometimes conducted on the spot by police — can land  Chinese citizens in a rehabilitation program for a minimum of two years. Critics say these facilities are effectively penal colonies where inmates are forced to work in factories and farms, eat poorly and get little medical care.

“They call them detoxification centers, but everyone knows that detox takes a few days, not two years,” said Joseph Amon of Human Rights Watch. “The basic concept is inhumane and flawed.” The group recently released a report, “Where Darkness Knows No Limits,” that examined the addiction programs and called for them to be shut down.

Critics like Wang Xiaoguang, vice director of the Daytop treatment program in Yunnan Province, said the programs are little more than business ventures run by police, who profit from the labor of inmates. Zhang Wenjun, head of the recovery group Guiding Star, summarized China’s attitude toward addiction: “In China, to be a drug addict is to be an enemy of the government,” he said.

A 2008 Chinese law promised community-based rehabilitation programs for people with addictions, but such programs have yet to be established. China’s Office of National Narcotics Control Commission did not respond to press inquiries about its rehabilitation system.