Hooked on heroin: A Chinese town's battle with trafficking and addiction

Xiamaguan is a town in China’s northwestern Ningxia Hui autonomous region that is home to about 100 families, the majority of which have been affected by heroin smuggling and addiction. Many farmers in the area got involved with heroin smuggling in the 1980s – lured into the trade by the prospect of making easy money.  Transporting drugs also can lead to addiction, and when authorities started cracking down on smuggling, entire families were caught up in the suffering – as offenders were…