VZCZCXRO1536
OO RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHBJ #4448/01 3451059
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111059Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2926
INFO RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU PRIORITY 7621
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU PRIORITY 1996
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG PRIORITY 8588
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI PRIORITY 6601
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG PRIORITY 7283
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI PRIORITY 6149
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1495
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1561
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 024448
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT PASS INL THOM BROWNE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV SNAR SOCI KHIV CH
SUBJECT: CHINESE AUTHORITIES PROMOTE EXPANSION OF U.S.
THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY MODEL FOR DRUG REHABILITATION
REF: CHENGDU 1083
Summary
-------
1. (SBU) Chinese National Narcotics Control
Commission officials expressed eagerness to proceed
with expansion of a United States NGO's model for
therapeutic community-based drug rehabilitation in
China during a December 4 meeting with visiting INL
Deputy Director Thomas Browne in Beijing. They
requested INL assistance to train qualified personnel,
including police academy professors and detox center
and NGO staff and proposed to draft a training work
plan or MOU for signature in early 2007. End summary.
Change Ordered From the Top
---------------------------
2. (SBU) In a December 4 meeting with visiting INL
Deputy Director for Anticrime Programs Thomas Browne,
Deputy Secretary General of China's National Narcotics
Control Commission (NNCC) Li Yuanzheng said he had
been charged by Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang
to institute therapeutic community model treatment for
drug rehabilitation patients, based on a model
established by a United States NGO, in all of China's
700 drug rehab centers. (Note: Li said these centers
can accommodate a total of 300,000 patients. End
note.) The NGO, Daytop International, has been
working in China's Yunnan Province since 1992 and
opened a voluntary drug treatment facility in Kunming
City in 1998, with some INL support (reftel). China
has since successfully expanded the model to a few of
its Ministry of Public Security (MPS)-run mandatory
detox centers. In a nationwide meeting in June,
Minister Zhou told counternarcotics officials that
they should make the establishment of therapeutic
rehabilitation centers an important goal of anti-drug
efforts over the next two years, Li related.
3. (SBU) Li told Browne and accompanying delegation
members from Daytop International, Daytop China and
the Embassy that he had just returned from Yunnan
Province where he had met with Public Security chiefs
from around the country to press the Minister's
message with local counternarcotics officials. Li
complained that, although Public Security officials
understood that they would have to establish such
centers, none had the knowledge or tools to do so.
Li, who has visited Daytop Yunnan and is familiar with
the program, acknowledged frankly that convincing
Public Security officials to undertake therapeutic
rehabilitation work may be difficult. He noted,
however, that the order to change comes straight from
the top, providing considerable motivation.
China Eager to Expand Daytop Model
----------------------------------
4. (SBU) Li said he is anxious to begin working on
the details of an expansion of the Daytop model in
China and suggested that NNCC would draft a work plan
that could subsequently be signed by NNCC and INL.
Browne said the work plan should address the issues of
who should be trained and how and where the training
would be conducted. Consultations with agencies in
China would be necessary to determine how to adapt the
model to China's particular conditions, Browne noted.
Follow-up training and support should be built into
the program, noted Daytop International's Executive
Director Aloyisius Joseph.
5. (SBU) Li agreed and suggested that the targets for
training should include professors from police
academies, detox center staff and staff from NGOs who
are running voluntary detox centers. Li further
advocated more broad-based training and awareness
raising for local police forces who are on the front
lines of dealing with drug addicts. "This kind of
BEIJING 00024448 002 OF 002
approach fits with the current emphasis in training
police forces," Li said, "and we want to educate as
many officers as possible, at least on the basic
principles." MPS Foreign Affairs DDG An Guojun
suggested distributing a VCD to local police forces to
introduce broad-based training.
6. (SBU) Regarding the location of the training, Li
and Browne agreed that training should be based in
centers that are currently using the Daytop model in
China. Currently, centers are located in Yunnan,
Hunan and Hubei Provinces and in Beijing. Duration of
training courses could vary, but some "core
implementers" would need longer and more intensive
courses, Browne and Li agreed. In concluding the
meeting, Li stated that he would work to put together
a draft training plan to be discussed further and
possibly signed in the spring on the margins of the
Joint Liaison Group meeting in Beijing.
Comment: Promoting NGO Collaboration
------------------------------------
7. (SBU) Daytop's work in China since 1992 has
established a firm foundation for cooperation with the
Chinese Government on therapeutic community
rehabilitation programs, which the Chinese have found
to be more effective than their traditional compulsory
detox programs. Expanding the therapeutic comunity
model will not only increase availabilit of more
effective treatment in China, but wil build on an
established and successful NGO collaboration and
promote NGOs as capable ad necessary partners of the
Government.
8. (U) Deputy Director Browne cleared this message.
Randt