The photo taken on December 8, 2014 shows a drug prevention education class at a high school in Guiyang, southwestern China's Guizhou Province. [File photo: gysjyw.gov.cn]

Close to 1.9 million teenagers are officially registered as drug addicts nationwide in China, making up nearly 60 percent of the total. Around 38 thousand of those are minors.

Finding the best way of warning children and young adults about the dangers of drugs is far from easy.

Anti-drug education courses have been part of classes at Xintian Nine-year System School in Wudang District of Guiyang for several years.

In the lessons, students are provided with vital information in a variety of ways - through case analysis, group discussion or even by developing and performing short plays.

Pan Weiyu, is a teacher at the school.

"What I will provide my students with is the basic knowledge about drugs. For example, I tell them how to recognize narcotics, whether a drug belongs to traditional or a new-type, and also the harm and damage caused by the narcotics. Today I taught my students why people take drugs, and more importantly, how to resist and keep away from them."

Pan Weiyu believes that such courses are of great significance, as juvenile drug addiction is such a major problem. But she adds that students are becoming more and more aware of the need to stay away from harmful narcotics.

"Before, when I talked about drug avoidance with students, they didn't seem to take much notice of the issue. But in recent years, that's changed a lot. Student awareness of the dangers of drugs has improved greatly, and they are no longer limited to learning about the subject from traditional sources like textbooks."

Apart the special lessons, the school arranges visits from drug rehabilitation centers or police officers who are involved in anti-narcotics operations, so they can pass on their vital knowledge and experience to those most at risk.