Shanghai will launch a series of measures this month to educate the public about the dangers of drugs and help addicts kick their habits.

The campaign will start in the middle of this month and wrap up on June 26, International Drug Control Day.

The city and various district governments will set up lectures about the dangers of drugs in neighborhoods, send out brochures to the public and visit drug rehabilitation clinics, officials said at a meeting yesterday.

Courts around the city are also expected to issue rulings in a variety of drug-related cases during the campaign. Officials also told the meeting the city is working on a plan to offer monetary rewards to anyone who provides police with tips that help them catch drug users, dealers and mules.

 "The amount is still under discussion, while the money should be in line with the city's economic status," said Zhou Weihang, director of Shanghai Anti-drug Off ice.

He said Guangdong Province recently promised to pay 300,000 yuan (US$36,145) to people who provide drug tips, so the local reward should be at least that much.

As of last Wednesday, police had made arrests in 547 drug trafficking cases this year, catching 582 suspects and seizing 61.08 kilograms of heroin, 8.06 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and 300 grams of ecstasy. Fifty-six of those trafficking cases involved people trying to sneak drugs through the airport customs, Zhou said.

"The biggest case local police cracked this year involved 6.7 kilograms of heroin."

The city has already launched several activities to discourage drug use. For instance, 48 primary and middle schools have started offering drug prevention courses and more than 200,000 educational brochures have been distributed. Changning District has also set up a pilot program to help addicts kick their heroin habits by allowing them to take prescribed amounts of adanon, an opium-type oral medicine.

(eastday.com June 1, 2005)