Facing a growing threat posed by drugs from the Golden Crescent, China's northwest border region has been plagued with problems like increased AIDS cases and narcotics-related crimes.

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, bordering eight Asian countries, has become the main passage in recent years for an influx of drugs from the Golden Crescent, which encompasses the mountain valleys of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Xinjiang regional police cracked 13 drug-trafficking cases involving 53.1 kilograms of heroin from the Golden Crescent region in 2006, nearly three times the number of such cases in the previous year, according to the area's public security department.

As many drug users still share needles, a related increase in the number of HIV-AIDS cases has been reported in the region. Xiaohai, 21, who lives in Yining City, never wears short sleeves even it is very hot because his arms are covered with pinprick scars as a result of prolonged intravenous drug use.

He began to use drugs out of curiosity at the age of 19, and in two years became an addict and an AIDS patient estranged from his family.

"It ruined my life," said Xiaohai. "I have spent the very last coin belonging to my family to buy drugs. Since I became infected with HIV, I have no dreams ... no future."

His mother died of illness because she couldn't afford treatment and his father chose to work in another city to avoid him.

In a bid to change his life, Xiaohai began to pay regular visits to a local methadone clinic.

The family's sad story is just one of many in Xinjiang.

With a population of about 20 million, Xinjiang has the fourth-largest number of HIV-AIDS victims on the Chinese mainland, with 18,209 cases of HIV infections officially reported by the end of 2006, most of which were found in the capital city of Urumqi.

Besides the rise of AIDS cases, drug-related crimes have also accelerated in the region in recent years.

Juvenile delinquency is on the increase, with adolescents making up 23 percent of the offenders seized in the first half of last year, up from 19.5 percent in 2005 and 14.2 percent in 2000.

Experts with the Xinjiang women's federation mainly attributed the rising juvenile delinquency rates to drugs, Internet addiction and a lack of family love.

The Xinjiang regional government has stepped up the fight against drug-related problems. It has opened needle-exchange programs and methadone clinics in 15 cities and prefectures and a dozen other places.

To combat trafficking from the Golden Crescent, China has beefed up border and airport checks in Xinjiang, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong.

The Golden Triangle in the northern region of Myanmar is still the main source of drugs and poses the biggest menace to China.

However, there is a growing threat of drug trafficking from the Golden Crescent region, especially Afghanistan, said Liu Yuejin, deputy director of the anti-narcotics bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.

China invested 110 million yuan (US$14.5 million) last year to improve drug-detection methods in police, border, railway, aviation, customs and postal departments, according to Liu.

(Shanghai Daily September 3, 2007)