Do you have any good sources for info about Mao's approach? Very interested to learn more about this. The wikipedia article seems to corroborate what you have said but provides no sources either :(
Mao's government compelled addicts into rehab and summarily executed drug dealers [0][1]. Drug trafficking is still a capital crime in the PRC. In 2017, 13 traffickers were sentenced to death at a public trial in front of 10,000 spectators [2].
[0] https://www.scmp.com/article/547678/maos-drug-lesson-world
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China#Unde...
[2] https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3906319/china-drug-dealer-mass...