After stealthily crossing an unnamed woody hill through a crooked path, they reached the China-Myanmar border. There they bought a pouch of opium from either familiar sellers or their relatives and then pussyfooted three kilometers back home.

This was what opium addicts of Bozhang, a village in drug-afflicted Yunnan Province in southwest China, used to do for years. However, a "community rehabilitation" project, which started early last year, has almost ended opium abuse in the remote, mountainous and poverty-stricken village.

Under the program, 45-year-old Xiang Long has turned over a new leaf. He remarried his second wife after a year-long divorce. And he enjoys family reunions, a sound sleep and a farming life, all once disrupted by his opium addiction.

"Before, we had no access to medical service. If one had a headache or fever, sips of opium with a 30-cm-long bamboo pipe could alleviate the pain," said Xiang. Bozhang has a population of463, all of Hani ethnic minority.

Xiang had an opium-addiction history of more than 20 years. Time and again, he had been sent to a compulsory rehab center in Jinghong City by police, but to no avail. He picked up opium again after each release. His first wife divorced him in 2003. His second, Che Xiao, also divorced him at the end of 2007. All was blamed on his addiction, which took away all of his valuable property but his traditional wooden house.

Adjacent to the notorious "Golden Triangle," a drug-producing region, Yunnan is a hard-hit province with about 60,000 addicts. In the first half of this year, the Xishuangbanna border defense troops seized 140 kg of drugs -- nearly double the same period of last year.

The village once had a peak of more than 100 addicts. Two years ago, urine tests conducted by the local police station showed 53 villagers, all males aged 20 to 40, had a drug addiction. Residents relied on rubber trees and a small plot of rice field, with a per-capita net income of 600 yuan (87.8 U.S. dollars) every year. But they did not hesitate to buy a pouch of opium for 60 yuan which only met their need for one or two days. As a result, fighting, gambling and stealing were once prevalent in the village.

COMMUNITY REHAB PROGRAM

At the beginning of 2008, the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture launched the "community rehab" program in border areas. Eighty-nine villages, including Bozhang in Damenglong Town, were pilots for the program.

The village established an 18-member militia patrol team in June last year. Its major task was to spread knowledge door-to-door about the harmful effects and help addicts beat addiction.

"It was my parents, police and fellow villagers who finally helped me give up drugs," said Xiang. His parents watched him at home closely. Xiang, realizing the losses his opium use had caused his family, was determined to kick the habit.

When drug addiction broke out at first, he became dispirited and testy. Sometimes he could not control himself and beat family members after being refused money to buy opium, said Xiang.

Under the circumstances, family members turned to the militia team to avoid fights. But gradually, the addicts chose to drink strong tea to raise their spirits, chat with relatives or go to the fields to do farming to overcome withdrawals.

For all of 2008, Xiang did not touch opium. His second wife remarried him at the end of last year after seeing her former husband had washed his hands of opium.

Gong Jingfeng, chief of the Damenglong Town Border Defense Police Station, said in such a remote area, it was unrealistic to adopt advanced rehab measures such as the use of medicine.

Compared with other drugs such as heroin and crystal methamphetamine, known as "ice", the withdrawal symptoms from opium are usually not strong enough to induce shock.

"The rehab had to rely on the help of police, militia teams and family members and the self-awareness, self-discipline, resolve and perseverance of addicts," said the police officer.

If an addict was found twice by militia teams to have been out secretly and bought opium, the police station would send him to the compulsory drug rehab center in Jinghong.

"We patrol for free once or twice a week, said Jia Hua, the only female in the militia team.

Jia said they not only monitored addicts who were getting rid of drugs in their own homes, but also prevented outside people from entering the village to sell drugs. Dealers from Myanmar still attempted to enter the village to sell drugs, she added.

"If someone leaves the village, he must ask for leave from the team. And after his return, the militia team will check where he has been to make sure what they do has nothing to do with drugs," said Jia.

Meanwhile, in drug-afflicted townships, another team consisting of police, villagers' committee, Communist Party of China members and families, monitors and educates addicts to help them overcome addiction.

Liu Qing, a Xishuangbanna Public Security Bureau official in charge of drug control, said the cooperation of family members was quite effective in helping addicts to give up drugs.

Now, 28 villagers in Bozhang are abstaining from drugs in their own homes. Seven others, including the former head of the village, are in the compulsory rehab house in Jinghong.

Gan Chun, a 26-year-old villager, is another one who has successfully got rid of drug addiction through community rehab.

"In the past, I always felt afraid of being captured away by police. But the militia team helped me completely get rid of drugs," said the young man.

Gan said he currently did construction work on a nearby road or harvested rubber for others, which earned him 40 yuan a day. "

"I'm just glad now," he said.

NEW LIFE

Last year, the village had an oral agreement with the prefectural public security bureau that if no one in the village took drugs, the bureau would award an ox to the village. But if any villager was caught taking drugs, the village would send the bureau an ox, according to Li Zongshou, new head of the village.

"The result was that the bureau gave us an ox at the end of last year," he said.

The village was digging a small pond to breed lobster. The village official said he was planning to save more land for farming by a concentration of houses.

A clinic was set up in the village last year. Villagers now have access to medical service. Days of relying on opium to cure pains are gone for the villagers.

Xiang Long said he had often hidden in the nearby mountains when seeing policemen in the past, but now he was eager to talk with them.

"I remarried after getting rid of drugs. It is really good to have meals with my family, enjoy a good sleep, plant rice and harvest rubber," said the villager, pledging a farewell to drugs.

Source: Xinhua