Olympics-Beijing to "compel" addicts off drugs

BEIJING, Feb 7 (Reuters) Beijing police may force the city's drug addicts into year-long rehabilitation programmes in a bid to present a clean Olympics to the world in 2008, state media reported today.

''We do not rule out the possibility of compelling all drug abusers in the capital to give up their addictions before the Olympics,'' Xinhua news agency quoted Fu Zhenghua, deputy director of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, as saying.

''The compulsory rehabilitation term for drug abusers might also be extended to one year from the current half year,'' Fu said.

In Beijing, first-time offenders are recorded on a police ''blacklist'', and if caught using again, are forcibly placed in government-sponsored rehabilitation centres for three to six months, the Beijing News said in a separate report.

In June 2006, Beijing police launched a high-profile crackdown on karaoke clubs, bath houses and discos that were havens for drug-taking and prostitution.

''In 2007, the focus of police's anti-drug efforts will shift from public entertainment venues to individual abusers,'' Fu said.

Fu added that police would solicit volunteers from staff at entertainment venues to ''not only promote the city's anti-drug message but also report drug abuse''.

Drug abuse was virtually wiped out after the Communist Party swept to power in 1949, but like prostitution and other perceived Western vices, has staged a comeback in the wake of reforms over the past three decades.

REUTERS PDS PM1754