As 93% of drug offenders are either users or user-dealer combinations, the first challenge we are faced is the tangle of law and medicine in the characterization of drug users. Drug users are criminals under the ROC law and punishments are harsh. For heroin users, a first-timer can get three to seven years of imprisonment; a second-timer, minimum five years; a third- timer, life imprisonment or death. Such harsh laws have only driven drug users underground. Although the law permits prosecutors to drop the charge if a drug user consults a doctor, gets rid of drug addiction and is verified by that prosecutor, very few drug users risk their lives going to public hospitals. They are forced to go to expensive but ineffective "private clinics" where even drug dealers ply their trade. While there are only four official drug treatment institutions having altogether 150 beds, their capacities have never been fully utilized for the above reasons. Meanwhile, doctors in these hospitals complain about receiving threats from drug addicts who demand addiction-free certificates to prevent prosecution.

In the later half of 1993, the Ministry of Justice proposed a brand new idea for handling drug users¡Ðconditional depenalization but not decriminalization of pure drug abuse. Under this new idea, which has undergone a few revisions, pure drug users are regarded not only as criminals as is required by law but also as patients. If they are found under treatment with a designated hospital, no charges will be brought against them. But such exemption will apply only once. If they are found using drugs the second time during or after treatment with a designated hospital, they will still not be indicted, but sent to a medical facility or detention house, depending on the particular situation, for observation and detoxification. If they are found unaddicted, they will be released without indictment; if they are found addicted or found using drugs for the second time, they will be sent to a drug rehabilitation and correctional institution(to be created)where they will stay for three months to one year with the possibility of a one-year extension. There, they will participate in a mandatory drug rehabilitation program that combines psychological counseling, vocational training, physical work and exercise, and religious activities. If the program goes well, the officers may decide to grant them "parole" and release them before the expiration of the prescribed period. Once out of the institution, they will be supervised by a probation officer or they may choose to stay at a halfway house. If they are found using drugs again, the while process will be repeated. But a second timer will receive a sentence of over six months but not more than five years, only to be carried out when he fails the mandatory rehabilitation program within the institution. On the other hand, drug user dealer combinations must serve their sentences as other offenses they committed would carry, of course.

This new idea has been well received by the medical community and the general public, particularly during the course of the National Anti-drug Conference held June 3-4, 1994. The idea has been written into the revised " Narcotics Eradication Statute," the title of which has also been changed to" Narcotics Prevention and Control Stature," and a few ether laws to be enacted. To meet the needs of the new policy, the Department of Health has greatly expanded the current capacity of drug treatment facilities by designating 133 hospitals to handle drug abusers and will train more qualified personnel. Meanwhile, adult and juvenile detention houses must employ more doctors to supervise the "cold turkey" method of detoxification by drug addicts in these institutions under the new laws.