The Guangdong Provincial Government will financially assist 1,000 former drug addicts to find new jobs, an official with the Guangdong Provincial Narcotics Control Office said Monday.

"We hope our help will make the former addicts get rid of drugs in three years and even forever," said Chen Shaobo, the office director.

The funds come mainly from the Guangdong Narcotics Prohibition Association, which aims to help the drug addicts give up their addiction. The association has raised more than 100 million yuan (US$12 million) since it was set up one year ago.

Guangdong Province has 123,000 registered drug addicts, or one seventh of China's total. The province has become a major drug production, trafficking and consumption center in the country, and drugs confiscated there account for 70 percent of China's total.

(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2005)