Villagers in guizhou make a living by drug trafficking
Chinanews, Beijing, Mar. 29 – Among the six provinces and municipalities labeled by the National Anti-Drug Committee as ones with serious drug trafficking problems, five are located in the west region, and among the 13 places designated by the Ministry of Public Security as key anti-drug areas, eight are located in the west. Statistics show that in 2002, the amount of heroin confiscated in the west region accounted for 84% of the total, the China Biweekly Review reported.Nayong County in Guizhou is designated as one of the key state-level counties for poverty alleviation. All the 25 towns in Nayong County are involved in drug trafficking activities. Among them, 40 villages are labeled as “key villages”, where drug trafficking was most serious. Local farmers sell drugs as a way to shake off poverty. Their life is in a vicious cycle: they live a poor life; in order to make more money, they sell and take drugs, then they become even poorer and they sell more drugs.
There are 317 poor villages in Nayong County, accounting for 66.18% of the total. Among all the 795,000 people living there, 94,000 live in poor conditions and 149,400 people make low income. 1,067 people in the county take drugs now. Among them, 599 continue to sell drugs while 226 people are missing.
Zekong Village is dubbed as the No.1 drug village in Guizhou. Many women living there have now become widows. The village is located 1,400 meters above sea level. It has no access to tap water or electricity. In 2005, local farmers’ net income was only 960 yuan. Since 1996, 40 people in the villages, who had been involved in drug trafficking, either have died, gone to jail, or escaped. Now only old people, widows and orphans live in this village.
However, many people, driven by the lucrative profits, still want to sell drugs. Some local villagers did make money by selling drugs. After becoming rich, they bought houses and cars, setting very bad examples for fellow villagers. Many local villagers did start to sell drugs after seeing their good lives. “By selling drugs, I might be jailed for a while, but after I come out, I can enjoy a good life for the rest of my life,” many villagers think in this way.
In Lezhi Town, all the 94 members in a clan family sell drugs. They use the money thus earned to build houses. When they are arrested, their wives will then leave the kids to their relatives in other places and go out to find work. All the houses are now virtually empty.