They hit rock bottom and ended up in rehab. Art therapy is facilitating recovery
In the years before 2008 when China's Narcotics Control Law was issued, the relapse of rehabilitated drug addicts was quite frequent.
One extreme case is that an addict who had been released after two years in a drug rehabilitation center was right back in rehab within 30 minutes after release.
Ji Yitian, a staffer with the Jiading District branch of the Council of Shanghai Ziqiang Social Services, a non-profit organization that assists drug addicts, claimed that some rehabilitated addicts are greeted right outside the gates of the center and lured back to drugs.
"All efforts are thwarted in the face of such provocation."
Ji said that the 2008 Narcotics Control Law and subsequent Shanghai municipal laws had substantially reduced such cases, but while "physical addiction can be treated in two to three months, psychological addiction is hard to overcome."
"The more crucial issue is to assist them in permanently letting go of unhealthy lifestyles. Only by doing this will they be able to 'break cocoons into butterflies,'" Ji said.
The importance of art
That's where the arts come in. Social workers believe that arts can enter the world of addicts like sunshine and make a difference.
"If they can immerse themselves in arts, they might make more acquaintances who share similar interests, and focus more on arts rather than drugs," Ji suggested.
A former drug addict (right) discusses his painting with social workers from the Jiading office of the Council of Shanghai Ziqiang Social Services.
Since 2004, social organizations have been holding art-related activities like painting, music and drama. According to Cao Xia, deputy director-general of the Ziqiang Social Services organization, about 100 people take part in the program annually.
Ji is in charge of the project in Jiading District. She asserted that those who sign up for the events have already started the process of transforming their lives.
This year, a person by the name of Song Song (pseudonym used to protect the person's privacy) is participating in the weaving activities. She worked for a state-owned company and became addicted to drugs after being pushed to do so by unsavory bar patrons.
After a short administrative jail term when she was 25, Song Song was detained again in 2010 for taking illegal substances. She spent two years in a recovery center and was released in 2012. But she failed to reconnect with society and kept to herself.
"I believed I was a sinner and lacked social graces, but I made an effort to avoid bad friends," like the time she unexpectedly ran into an old acquaintance in a mall. "All I wanted to do was stay home."
All that changed when Tu Jiaqiu, a member of the social organization, invited her to engage in a weaving activity.
Song Song shows a bracelet she made.
Song Song hesitated but finally accepted the invitation despite her inexperience.
During the activity, the teacher's hand danced with a lovely bracelet made of various colored strings. But even though the teacher repeatedly showed how to make it, Song Song struggled with it.
"I feel that my memory has been irreparably damaged after using drugs," Song Song remarked.
She looked online for weaving tutorials to practice at home. She visited a store where she purchased strings and requested a private lesson from the store owner.
She succeeded after a few weeks. Song Song gave Tu one of the bracelets she had made as a token of appreciation for her unfailing assistance and company.
"Overcoming a challenge provided me with confidence and courage to face the uncertain future," she said. "I'm no longer afraid of seeing old friends because I've completely changed."
Song Song (in red) teaches an addict to weave.
Bamboo carving
The organization introduced the roughly 500-year-old Jiading bamboo-carving, one of the nation's intangible cultural heritages, in 2019. Xiao Ya (pseudonym), a former drug user, is the instructor.
Ten years ago, when Xiao Ya's client encouraged her to try drugs, she didn't say no. She thought that was normal in a social whirl, like drinking.
"Under the influence of drugs, I thought my client and his friend were empathetic, and I felt unprecedented happiness and comfort," she said.
"I even willingly gave away my 30,000-yuan (US$ 4,170) ring after they convinced me that the ring was useless."
Xiao Ya was arrested and placed in voluntary detox. Addicts who are apprehended by police for the first time in Shanghai do not need to go to a drug rehabilitation clinic.
With the help of her parents and social workers, Xiao Ya was soon off drugs. She discovered the joy of bamboo-carving.
"This magical art gives me the ability to find happiness and calmness," Xiao Ya stated.
Xiao Ya guides a drug addict to learn bamboo-carving.
Bamboo-cutting has significantly changed the lives of some former drug addicts.
"A participant in the activity, surnamed Gu, took another's work home to complete it, as his own art piece had been completed days in advance," Ji said.
"You know, he used to be idle. He didn't like to interact with others and spent his days at home playing online games," Ji explained.
After the bamboo-carving activity ended, this 30-ish man went to work as a mechanic to support himself.
Ji reasoned that while social workers may not always be able to reach the inner world of this special group, arts can.
They are using arts not only to accompany them but also to heal them.
When a person paints his or her picture with too many dark hues, social workers pay more attention to their physical and psychological status by having more talks with them, their family members, friends, neighborhood committees, and even local police stations.
A former drug addict writes down his expectations for the future.
Voluntary organizations in various regions, including the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the provinces of Sichuan and Gansu, have tried art therapy in recent years. It is based on various intangible cultural heritages and traditional Chinese culture rooted in the regions.
"Art therapy is just getting started in China, and we're crossing the river by feeling for stones," Ji said. "Although art activity only lasts two to three months per year in the Jiading branch, we spend the rest of our time researching, following up on participants, and preparing for art classes with different themes in the coming year.
"We want to find the best art to heal them.
"No butterfly flies with a cocoon. We hope that art can help these former drug addicts shed their 'cocoon' ― drug addiction, old lifestyles and bad friends ― forever and regain confidence in a healthy life," Ji said.
