DREAM FOR HOME: Wang Chen, an inmate in the Drug Rehabilitation Center in Jiutai, northeast China's Jilin Province, hopes to go back home as soon as possible (XU CHANG)

Wang Chen's dream is to return home after eventually being released from the Drug Rehabilitation Center in Jiutai City, northeast China's Jilin Province.

Wang, 36, had been taking drugs since he sustained business losses in 2005.

"At first I just wanted to give it a try as it helped to relieve heavy stress, but soon I got addicted and could not get rid of it at all," said Wang, who then gave up his business and put all the money into purchasing drugs.

"In those days, I spent all the time either taking drugs or sleeping," Wang said. "I felt dizzy every day and didn't have the energy to do anything else."

In August 2011, Wang was arrested for possession of narcotics and sent to a drug rehabilitation center. "My wife didn't know about me taking drugs as I always deceived her," Wang said. "She was astonished to know the truth but finally forgave me. Now I really want to go back home and start life over again."

In the rehabilitation center, Wang wrote an article, Dream and Heaven. "I thought I could go to heaven by taking drugs, but I ended up staying in the walls. Every morning, I looked through the windows to the direction of my hometown. The walls locked my dreams," it said.

On June 25, one day before International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Wang expressed his strong will to quit drugs and go back home during an interview with Xinhua News Agency.

Media outlets tell many stories about drug abuse around the special day. Xiaoqin, 33 years old, who refused to reveal her real name, started taking drugs in 1999 when she was a middle school student. "I was just a teenager and thought it is very cool to take drugs," said Xiaoqin on Let Me Help You, a TV program in Chongqing in southwest China.

But this "cool" habit cost her dearly. Xiaoqin stole money from her parents and spent every penny on drugs. "At first I only needed 20 yuan ($3.15) or 30 yuan ($4.72) every day, and finally I needed more than 400 yuan ($62.95) each day," said Xiaoqin, who was sent to rehabilitation centers quite a few times but relapsed each time.

"My parents finally gave up on me. My personal life was a mess as well until 2008, when I gave birth to my daughter," she said. "It was my daughter who made me decide firmly that I had to quit drugs completely."

Statistics from the Ministry of Public Security show that at the end of 2011, there were more than 1.79 million registered drug abusers in China, while in 2008, the number was only 860,000.

"The number of crimes concerning drug trafficking and abuse has increased dramatically in recent years as well as the number of drug abusers," said Liu Yuejin, Director of Narcotics Control Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.

According to Liu, in 2011, 4.18 tons of illegal drugs were seized in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern Yunnan Province alone, more than the previous six years combined. Xishuangbanna lies along the China-Myanmar border.

A bitter battle

China is fighting an uphill battle against drug trafficking and abuse amid a rebound in opium production in neighboring countries and the rise of domestic production of synthetic drugs.

Two important sources of China's drug imports are the Golden Triangle, the world's major opium-producing area that overlaps the mountains of Myanmar, Viet Nam, Laos and Thailand, and the Golden Crescent, which encompasses the mountain valleys of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.