Taiwan Today

Adolescent drug abuse used to be confined to a relatively small number of youths mixed up with gangs and gangsters. All that changed when amphetamine abuse became popular in the late 1980s. The drug war has now extended to school campuses and even the home.

When Premier Lien Chan (連戰) launched his first official policy after taking office last February, his choice of topics was a sign of the times. Unlike his predecessors, who had estab­lished their authority with policies con­cerning Taiwan politics or the economy, Lien announced an islandwide war on drugs. Lien’s choice made good political sense: drug use has increased dramati­cally in the past few years and public con­cern is mounting, especially among parents. The National Police Administra­tion shows that the number of teenagers involved in drug-related crimes has in­ creased dramatically, from roughly 1,400 cases in 1990 to 10,800 cases in 1992. Worse yet, drug use is growing quickly among youths aged twelve to eighteen years, and even younger. Although the teen drug abuse rate is still far lower in Taiwan than in the United States and other Western countries, people are con­cerned about the rapid increase over the past few years.

In the past, illegal drugs such as opium, cocaine, heroin, and morphine were used only within a small circle of gangsters and people in the sex industry. Teenagers did not begin experimenting with drugs until the 1960s, when mari­juana was introduced after the U.S. hippie culture found its way to Taiwan. Accord­ing to Chinese Drug Culture (Teacher Chang Publishing Co., 1991), during the past three decades, various drugs have trickled in and circulated among a small sector of youth. In the early 1970s, sniff­ing glue became popular among teens be­ cause it was cheap and available at any stationery shop. Taipei Municipal Police Department records show that the average age of those sniffing glue at the time was fifteen. In 1976, the government forced manufacturers to add mustard oil to the glue to give it a stench that kept kids from misusing it.

But finding a replacement for glue was easy. The painkiller pentazocine was soon being sold in southern Taiwan, and quickly spread among small groups of youngsters islandwide. Reports began surfacing of young users wandering about in public in a semiconscious state. Like glue, the heyday for pentazocine did not last long. In fact, the government took a more severe approach in curbing its use. In 1978, the drug was listed by the police as illegal, meaning that abusers could be fined or jailed. Since then, use of this drug as well as barbiturates, has continued, but on a small scale.

Despite the influx of these new drugs into youth culture, drug use among mi­nors remained on a very small scale until the late 1980s. All this changed with the introduction of amphetamines as a street drug around 1989. Actually, Taiwan has a long history of producing these stimulants. Local manufacturers first began supplying amphetamines to the Japanese army during World War II. After the Japanese military quit using the drugs be­ cause of harmful side effects, an under­ ground industry later began exporting them to Japan illegally, primarily for sale to organized crime.

But local exporters lost their market in the late 1980s when the Japanese gov­ernment cracked down on the drugs. “Tai­wan’s amphetamine producers simply developed another market back home,” says Lien Chien-hsin (連建鑫), head counselor at Tachih Junior High School in Taipei. Lien worked as a guidance counselor specializing in drug abuse at Hsihu Junior High School in Taipei be­ fore taking the position at Tachih.

Several other factors contributed to the sudden popularity of amphetamines. At the time, Taiwan’s service industries were booming. The island’s overall eco­nomic growth had fueled a sudden increase in retail and entertainment busi­nesses, and this in turn had created a shortage of manpower. As a result, teen­agers began entering the job market. Suddenly, high school students were tak­ing evening or weekend jobs at fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, and movie theaters. For the first time, large numbers of teens were earning their own money and spending more time away from home.

The first group to use amphetamines on a large scale, according to Lien, were those working in the service industries. They tended to work long, late hours, and the drug kept them alert and energetic. “What often happens is that teenagers working in service industries are offered amphetamines by a senior co-worker when they begin to show signs of fatigue or sluggishness at work,” Lien says. “Once they discover how helpful the drugs can be, they want to share them with friends or classmates. Sharing is part of teenage culture, and lots of these kids are still in school.”

Not all teenagers take amphetamines to stay awake and energetic. Some take them to lose weight or to become more outgoing and self-assured. But the great majority experiment with drugs purely out of curiosity and peer pressure. “When they are invited to share ‘ice,’ the nick­ name for amphetamine because it looks like bits of ice, it is very difficult for them to say no,” says Wu Chang-er (吳嫦娥), chief supervisor of Taipei Police Depart­ment’s Commission on Taipei Juvenile Guidance. “To teens, it’s like being of­fered a cup of tea at any social occasion.”

Data on teen drug use are scarce, since the problem emerged on a large scale only recently. The broadest study to date, a 1992 survey by Chou Pi-se (周碧瑟), a profes­sor at National Yang Ming Medical Col­lege in Taipei, queried twelve thousand teenagers islandwide. In it, about 1.3 per­cent of the respondents had experimented with drugs; among these, amphetamines were the drug of choice for 75 percent. A small number of interviewees also re­ported having tried sniffing glue or tak­ing barbiturates, and a tiny fraction had used heavy drugs such as morphine or cocaine.

The most surprising finding came when teens told where they take drugs. One-third said they had done so at home. This contradicted the popular belief that drug use was restricted to teen hangouts such as video arcades or KTVs (karaoke parlors).

Both Chou’s report and Taipei Police Department records also indicate that younger kids are using amphetamines. In 1992, the National Police Administration reported that eighteen elementary school students around the island were found using the drug. Six of these children were girls.

While boys still make up the major­ity of the teenagers taking drugs, sub­ stance abuse is becoming increasingly common among girls. Based on statistics from the Commission on Taipei Juvenile Guidance, amphetamine abuse is now re­ported as the most common crime among teenage girls and the second most common crime for boys, after theft. Wu Chang-er says that most girls who take drugs are influenced by their boyfriends. In addition, Wu reports that about 60 per­cent of the girl users have left home, while most boys still live with their parents.

Many teenage drug abusers live with or near adults who openly use stimulants. In many cases, the youngster’s siblings, relatives, or parents use or sell drugs. This makes weaning them from the habit espe­cially difficult; these young people see nothing wrong with drugs. “One out of every four teenagers on amphetamines is influenced by family members,” Wu says. “From this we can tell that drug abuse is prevalent among certain adult groups and has seriously affected innocent kids who are unable to make judgments for themselves.”

Incidents of youngsters selling drugs to their peers are also becoming more common, and youth drug sales are taking place in a widening variety of sites. Ac­cording to Wu, two years ago, urban video arcades were the primary place where teens bought amphetamines. But last year, low-priced teahouses—the new­est youth gathering spots—also began doubling as drug markets. In the past, teens bought drugs mainly from adults, and most sales took place, away from school. But this year, the police recorded the first cases of teenagers selling drugs to their schoolmates while on school grounds.

At about NT$800-$1,000 (US$29­-$37) per two-inch vial of amphetamine (enough for several light highs), the drug is not cheap. Many kids pay for drugs with their own money. Some borrow or extort money from their schoolmates. In fact, Lien Chien-hsin says that teachers often learn of a student’s drug habit from classmates who complain of being forced to “lend” money. Some girls begin work­ing as hostesses or prostitutes. Other teens support themselves by stealing.

To address the problem on school grounds, in 1990 the Ministry of Education embarked on an anti-drug program called “Spring Sunshine Project” in which junior high and high school stu­dents are randomly given urine tests, and teachers receive training on how to help students with drug problems. The pro­gram also includes teaching materials and lesson plans on the dangers of drug use. “Before receiving the training, many teachers had no information about am­phetamines—what they look like, how to approach students who take drugs, or where to get professional help for drug abusers,” says Lien.

Since 1990, three hundred student drug abusers have been found through the urine-testing program. Those found to have a mild drug problem are given counseling at school; those with a more serious problem are sent to drug rehabili­tation centers. Lien says most students using amphetamines are not addicted. “Usually, they are quite willing to quit the drug after counseling,” he says. “Am­phetamines are not difficult to quit compared with other drugs.” According to Ma Jen-hwa (馬振華), chief of the Taipei Police Department’s Juvenile Division, it takes about ten days for an amphetamine user to stop craving the drug.

But in-school anti-drug programs reach only a fraction of teen substance abusers. Lien Chien-hsin and Wu Chang-er stress that the great majority of young users are not in school. (Taiwan’s manda­tory schooling ends after ninth grade, and about 12 percent of students end their education then because they are unable or unwilling to test into a high school or vo­cational school.)

The Spring Sunshine Project requires teachers to check on students who drop out or who neither continue school nor begin working after graduation. But teachers are finding such tasks difficult to accomplish given their lack of time and limited resources. Simply locating these young people can be extremely difficult. “Even their parents don’t know how to get in touch with them-how can you expect teachers to keep an eye on them?” asks Lien. One of the most difficult aspects of work for the supervisors of the Commission on Taipei Juvenile Guidance is that they have no way of keeping track of these youngsters.

At the national government level, the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the islandwide anti-drug program, is heavily promoting the war on drugs. Since the premier’s announcement in May, many anti-drug events have been sponsored by various non-governmental organizations and some private compa­nies such as Taiwan Television, Taipei Lions Club, and the Fubon Culture and Education Foundation. High-ranking government officials including Minister of Justice Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Minis­ter of Education Kuo Wei-fan (郭為藩), and Premier Lien himself have appeared on TV to deliver anti-drug messages.

Meanwhile, the police are beefing up efforts to monitor teen hangouts and to work with teens found to be using drugs. Teens with only a minor problem are given free consultations with counselors from the Commission on Taipei Juvenile Guidance. Usually, commission supervi­sors visit the teen’s home and talk to fam­ily members and friends before talking to the drug abuser. “This is important,” says Wu Chang-er, “because once they are cut off from the source of temptation and we understand the reasons why they take drugs, it is much easier for us to bring them out of addiction.”

For more serious cases, under the Narcotics Control Law, youngsters using drugs are sent to counseling centers or drug rehabilitation facilities, depending on the seriousness of their habit. Those caught selling or carrying drugs are sent to juvenile court.

The biggest debate among those fighting teen substance abuse is whether drug users should be treated as patients or criminals. Some authorities complain that the cur­rent laws keep users from seeking treat­ment. Under the Narcotics Control Law, when people voluntarily seek rehabilita­tion at one of the three government­-funded centers, the doctors must submit their name to the police. Users who suc­cessfully quit, as proven by regular testing over a period of time, will have their name removed, leaving no police record. But users who fail to stay clean may be subject to prosecution. A similar situation exists at public and private hospitals; there, doc­tors must reveal the names of their drug rehabilitation patients if the courts de­mand them. For this reason, many people are reluctant to seek rehabilitation at these facilities, even though they offer the best care and most reasonable cost.

As an alternative, many turn to unlicensed rehabilitation centers that do not report clients to the police. But the quality of care varies greatly at these under­ ground centers. Some are even rumored to have ties to organized crime, so that rather than being cured, drug addicts are lured into working with gangsters.

Many professionals working to stop drug abuse are pushing to revise the law in order to encourage more addicts to re­ceive treatment. In October, Minister of Justice Ma Ying-jeou told reporters that the government is seriously considering such a revision.

Efforts to reach young drug users are also hampered by a lack of funding.

The Commission on Taipei Juvenile Guidance sponsors anti-drug education through public speeches and hosts group counseling programs for recovering ad­dicts at its fourteen branch offices around the city. But little effort is being made by police departments outside Taipei. Ac­cording to Wu Chang-er, who has served on the commission for more than a dec­ade, the central government originally planned to set up similar police commis­sions in cities islandwide. “But because of our tight budget and limited man­ power, it never happened,” she says. “The Taipei commission is the only one in Taiwan run by the police because Tai­pei has more financial and professional resources. ”

Lack of funding and manpower also plague Taiwan’s three public drug rehabilitation centers. With a total of 160 beds among the three centers, these hospitals simply cannot meet the demand. As a re­sult, prison cells are being used to house some recovering drug addicts. The only other option for many drug users is to check into one of the growing number of licensed and unlicensed private drug reha­bilitation centers. But fees at these private clinics can run up to NT$100,000 (US$3,700) for ten to fifteen days of treat­ment.

Underlying all efforts to curb teen drug abuse is the goal of reaching youngsters before they develop a problem. The most popular methods are benefit con­certs or variety shows featuring musi­cians, film stars, and TV personalities popular with teenagers. Martial arts movie star Jackie Chan (成龍) and film and TV personality Sun Yueh (孫越) are two celebrities who speak out regularly against drug use. But many people ques­tion this approach. “The idea is great, but the question is: are teenagers attending the concerts because they really care about the drug problem or because they want to see their idols?” asks Lien Chien-hsin. “Sometimes it is just a waste of money to hold a concert like that.”

Ma Jen-hwa of the Taipei Police De­partment’s Juvenile Division also finds fault with many of the anti-drug public service announcements targeting teen­agers. He points out that almost every poster depicts a skeleton, which is meant to scare kids. Often, such tactics have the opposite effect, Ma fears. Kids dismiss the ad as exaggerated. “Most children on amphetamines will tell you that they will not turn into the skeleton in the ads,” says Ma. He suggests that the ads should sim­ply state the negative side effects of taking drugs.

Lien Chien-hsin also prefers sticking to factual information, but stresses appealing to teenage sensibilities. “Don’t tell them that taking amphetamines is bad, or that it will damage to their nervous sys­ tem,” he says. “That kind of hard sell is difficult for them to comprehend. But if you tell them they are going to break out in pimples, which is one side effect of long-time use, it is very likely that they will stop taking amphetamines immedi­ately. Looks are extremely important at their age.”

Wu Chang-er believes the best way to prevent teenagers from taking drugs is to cut off access. During the past year, she says, the police have focused on monitor­ing the various ports of entry for smug­gling drugs into the island. In addition, several amphetamine factories in Taiwan’s remote mountain areas have also been found and destroyed. In early Octo­ber, the Ministry of Justice held an inter­national drug prevention conference in Taipei. Participants from twenty-four countries discussed how to join forces to stop international drug networks.

But Ma Jen-hwa warns against fo­cusing too narrowly on stopping the supply, rather than squelching the demand. “If you expend most of your effort on keeping drugs out of Taiwan, it will only make the drug market more competitive,” he says. “Those who don’t have the money to buy them will get the money elsewhere. They will steal, rob, and even kill to get money for drugs.”

For this reason, Ma believes juvenile drug use could become the most serious threat to Taiwan’s social stability in the coming years. “If we don’t stop young people from taking amphetamines as early as possible through education, con­sultation, and publicity,” he says, “later, they will begin taking morphine, cocaine, and other heavy-duty drugs that are al­ most impossible to quit. By then, it will be too late.”