Martial arts training offered to addicts

The city’s drug rehabilitation authority has introduced traditional Chinese martial arts like tai chi, as well as other sports, into the treatment regimes of local addicts.

Recent research findings showed that those who participated in this sort of exercise therapy were half as likely to relapse as those participating in traditional drug rehabilitation education alone.

The exercises combine martial arts with aerobics and were co-developed by the Administrative Bureau of Drug Rehabilitation and Shanghai University of Sport. According to the bureau, the exercises can improve addicts’ self control and stimulate “reward circuits” that aid in rehabilitation.

According to the bureau, the number of people it received for compulsory rehabilitation last year rose 16 percent from 2016.

Wang Dongsheng, the Party secretary at the bureau, said they have been cooperating with local science institutes and universities for years to develop non-drug treatments for drug rehabilitation. Aside from the sports treatment regime, the bureau has developed high-tech methods using virtual reality therapy and brainwave cognitive intervention.

The bureau also offers psychological support to everyone it treats, in addition to therapy based on addiction substance and severity.

Addicts are also provided with training in trades such as auto repair and baking, with the vast majority obtaining job qualification certificates.

Meanwhile, according to the Shanghai Prison Administration, some 3,000 local prisoners are in jail for drug-related crimes.