Dehong, Yunnan - Ten women in Kanan, a border village in Southwest China's Yunnan province, call themselves "anti-drug village guards".

The group aims to help drug addicts in the village and to prevent other villagers from taking illegal substances.

Kanan is located in Dehong prefecture, a major border crossing between China and Myanmar and an important location for trade with the Golden Triangle, one of Asia's two main opium-producing areas.

"You can see blooming opium flowers on the mountains of Myanmar from our village," said 58-year-old Pai Nanxiang, the leader of the group.

The village has 42 households with a population of 148, most of whom belong to the Jingpo ethnic group.

Pai said eight women volunteered to form the team in 2002 and two more joined last year.

"We had to do something to save our men. Many of them were opium addicts," she said. "They are, after all, the primary earners in our families."

Pai said the worst time for the village was in 1997 and 1998, when 22 of the 64 men in Kanan were addicted to opium.

Both of Pai's sons were addicts, too.

Jiang Dejian, Pai's 27-year-old son, said a neighbor first offered him drugs about 10 years ago.

"He told me it's something amazing and I would feel good afterwards. I took it out of curiosity," he told China Daily.

According to Pai, once the men in the village became addicted, they stopped working altogether and some even took to crime to get enough money for another dose.

"They took drugs and slept. When they'd wake up, they got high again. That's all they did. They spent every penny they had saved. Many of them then resorted to crime to get more money," she said.

"The women had no choice but to take it upon themselves to do all the farm work."

Due to the prevalence of drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, robberies and brawls became common in Kanan, Pai said.

The team of anti-drug village guards started persuading the addicts to give up drugs and, at times, even called the police to force them into rehabilitation.

The team also patrols the surrounding area in a bid to prevent drug dealers from entering the village.

Sometimes the dealers offer the guards a cut from their profits, which never works, Pai said.

The guards even try to find jobs for the men outside the village, "so that they don't sit idle and become tempted to consume drugs".

Pai said: "Both of my sons got rid of their drug-addiction and now work in Fujian province."

Since 2005, there has been a considerable decline in the number of addicts in the village, while nearby villages continue to suffer.

"It's only because our team of guards keeps a close watch on Kanan villagers," Pai said.

"In 2006, the Yunnan provincial armed police corps of frontier defense offered to help after learning of our plight and we now often help them bust drug dealers," she added.

Drug trafficking, nevertheless, remains a thriving business in the area.

China Daily

(China Daily 06/25/2010 page5)