China had 785,000 drug addicts by the end of last year, 89 percent of whom were addicted to heroin, the commission said.

Of heroin abusers, 69 percent are under 35 years old, 30 percent are farmers and 52 percent are jobless, Chen Cunyi, deputy secretary-general of the commission, told a press conference in Beijing.

They were found in 2,334 cities and counties across the country, he said.

Some new drugs have quickly taken hold among drug users, including crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice; ecstasy pills, known locally as "head-shaking pills;" and ketamine, Chen said.

The drugs were of particular concern in entertainment venues, he said.

Shared needles are the major cause of the spread of AIDS among addicts, the commission said. By the end of last year, of the 144,000 registered AIDS patients, 39.3 percent had been infected through shared needles used to inject heroin.

Police solved 45,000 drug cases, caught 58,000 suspects, smashed 1,550 drug-trafficking rings, and destroyed 34 drug-processing facilities last year, Chen said.

Officers seized 17.5 tons of drugs last year, including 6.9 tons of heroin, 5.5 tons of methamphetamine, 2.3 tons of opium, 2.34 million ecstasy tablets and 2.6 tons of ketamine.

Police last year also tracked down 157.9 tons of chemical materials that could be used to produce drugs.

Chen said China is mapping out an anti-drug law and is expected to issue the law this year.

He also told the conference that heroin in the domestic market was scarce, with prices rising and purity falling, as a result of a campaign against drugs.

The news should also be attributed to a decline in the planting area of opium poppy in the Golden Triangle in Myanmar.

The United Nations said last year that opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar fell 23 percent from 2003 to 2004, and production in nearby Laos fell 43 percent in the same period. Thailand and Vietnam have nearly wiped out opium cultivation.

However, Chen said the northern region of Myanmar - the Golden Triangle - is still the main source of drugs.

He blamed the increased abuse of new drugs, such as crystal methamphetamine, in recent years on supplies coming from the Golden Triangle. Many regions in China have seized crystal meth that was produced in Myanmar.

Southwestern China's Yunnan Province, bordering Myanmar, seized a record high 2.6 tons of crystal meth last year, an increase of 154 percent on the year before.

Chen also said most of the heroin produced in the Golden Triangle is smuggled to China.

He warned of increased drug trafficking from the Golden Crescent region in central Asia, especially Afghanistan.

About 104,000 hectares of land was earmarked for poppy in Afghanistan last year, and the opium yield amounted to 4,100 tons, accounting for 87 percent of the world's total, Chen said.

Police in Xinjiang, Beijing, Guangdong and other areas have cracked trafficking cases involving heroin from Afghanistan, he said.