The total number of deaths due to drug addiction reached 33,975 across the country, said an official with China's Public Security Ministry Thursday.

Li Xianhui, division director of preventive drug education under the ministry, publicized the figure at a press conference Thursday.

About 41 percent of the country's reported 89,067 HIV carriers contracted the disease through drug injection. This is much higher than the average 22 percent of the international society, according to Li.

Drug addicts have been registered in 2,102 counties, accounting for 73.5 percent of the estimated total, said Li.

By the end of 2004, there have been 791,000 drug addicts across the country, up 6.8 percent on a year-on-year basis, sources with the ministry said.

Facing the tough situation, Chinese central government has launched a nationwide campaign to fight against the rampant drug crimes from this April.

In the first four months this year, China cracked 24,000 drug related criminal cases and arrested 19,000 relevant suspects, and seized a total of 3,859 kilograms of heroin, 1,005 kilograms of "ice" and 198,000 pills of "ecstasy," said Yang Fengrui, deputy director of the office of the National Narcotics Control Commission, at Thursday's press conference.

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2005)