Dialogue with Chinese Police: How stringent is China’s Anti-Drug Policy?
In 1986, the United Nations held the International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and emphasized the theme of “Justice for Health, Health for Justice.” Then the day June 26th was designated as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, to draw the attention of countries around the world to the drug problem and call on people around the world to work together to deal with the problem.
About forty years later, many countries seem to have reached a deal with drugs: marijuana has been legalized in the Netherlands, India, Israel, and some other countries. Adults in Germany can legally possess a certain amount of marijuana. France has built official drug rooms for addicts, Canada has launched a drug delivery service, and the superpower United States has once again taken the lead, with only 5% of the world’s total population, accounting for 12% of the world’s drug users, and consuming 80% of the world’s opioids…
In 2022, New York City approved the first so-called supervised drug injection site, trying to reduce the death rate from drug overdose. | Source: AP
As the international drug crisis spreads, how does China prevent the domestic emergence and spread of drugs?
Introduction to China’s Counternarcotics Efforts
At present, China is facing the dual pressure of “preventing overseas drugs from entering the country and stopping drug abuse at home”. To build a strong defense line, a group of anonymous heroes have been fighting in the darkness. Mr. Yang is a counternarcotics police officer who has fought on the front line of narcotics control at the border for many years and has now transferred to a comprehensive post in the heartland. Speaking of his work, he can’t help but straighten his chest. “When I recall those things about drug control at the border, I am full of pride and accomplishment. That must be the most glorious moment of my life.” In those years, he has climbed the steep cliffs at the border, waded through wetlands and walked through snowfields. He was injured for driving a car to stop drug dealers’ vehicles many times, and he also shed tears for his fallen comrades.
Foreign drug dealers arrested by the Chinese Police at the border between China and Vietnam | Source: Sina Guangxi
China used to focus on preventing the import of drugs from abroad at the border, but the joint counternarcotics operations in the past decade have expanded to neighboring countries. There are also many difficulties in joint operations between China and neighboring countries. Not to mention the difficulty of cross-border evidence collection and arrests, sometimes a criminal chain involves more than two or three countries, and the operation requires information transmission, intelligence sharing, and simultaneous arrests in multiple countries. Despite the many difficulties, the law enforcement cooperation between the Chinese police and various countries has continued to deepen and become more pragmatic. The intensity of various joint operations has continued to increase, and China’s transnational counternarcotics cooperation partners are also increasing year by year.
In recent years, under China’s advocacy and hosting, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam have successfully held eight joint counternarcotics operations, playing an important role in fighting drug crimes in the Mekong River Basin and maintaining regional security. In recent years, China has signed 50 intergovernmental or interdepartmental counternarcotics cooperation documents with more than 30 countries or international organizations, established 13 counternarcotics border liaison officer offices, and jointly cracked more than 800 major transnational cross-border drug cases.
“In order to save ourselves, we even have to save our neighbors and the world. Is it true that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility?” a counternarcotics police officer said half-jokingly.
On June 13, the 2024 “Safe Mekong” Joint Counternarcotics Operation was launched in Mangshi County, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. | Source: China National Narcotic Control Committee
In addition to strictly preventing the entry of foreign drugs, the crackdown on domestic drug manufacturing has also achieved remarkable results.
At present, China’s domestic large-scale drug production activities and illegal cultivation of poppy and marijuana have almost disappeared. The awareness and initiative of all the people to participate in the counternarcotics struggle have continued to increase. China’s counternarcotics efforts have also greatly deterred drug dealers and addicts around the world.
“We haven’t caught any new drug users or dealers in our jurisdiction this year.” A counternarcotics police officer in Luzhou recalled for a while, and added, “Only one or two drug addicts were found among the fraudsters brought back from Myanmar.”
The director of a police station in Butuo County, Liangshan Prefecture, felt the same way, “Before 2018, I could catch a lot of suspects in my jurisdiction through drug tests. In 2021, the number dropped to single digits, and in 2022, it dropped to zero.” Butuo was originally the main artery for drug imports into the Golden Triangle, but now it is a drug-free town among green mountains and clear waters. What’s more, from 2023 to May 2024, there were zero incidents of drug-related crimes caused by drug users and zero cases of poverty caused or exacerbated by drug use in the whole of Liangshan.
“It is now very difficult to catch a drug user here because the crackdown has been so intense and has never relented”, said many local officers when asked about the recent counternarcotics situation. This is closely related to the continuous efforts of local police stations to increase the enforcement of mandatory checks on all suspicious individuals and thorough checks on high-risk individuals. “Each police station conducts hair sampling and monitoring of key personnel within their jurisdiction. Additionally, urine or hair tests are performed on every person brought into the police station’s case handling area, achieving a 100% testing rate and maximizing the identification of hidden drug users.”
The widespread awareness of counternarcotics and narcotics control has played a significant role. One police officer couldn’t help but laugh as he recounted, “In March, a father reported his child, suspecting drug use because the child had been acting distracted, skipping meals, and looking anxious for days. It turned out the child had taken out an online loan and couldn’t repay it due to accumulating interest and was anxious about confessing to his parents.” In April this year, an elementary school student in Xiangyang reported his grandfather for growing poppies, which were actually just similar plants of the same family. There have been many such misunderstandings across China, but there are also numerous instances where people have reported their own family members for drug use, genuinely prioritizing justice over family ties.
“Not only are Chinese citizens, but people all over the world are aware of China’s strict counternarcotics measures,” said Officer Hu from a coastal city. “For instance, just recently, I encountered a foreign student online who was considering coming to China for studies and was testing the waters regarding China’s security checks. He had previously used marijuana and was worried about being caught when entering the country.”
Officer Hu told me that China’s entry inspections are becoming more meticulous and stringent. “For example, when foreign students entered the country, before 2017, traditional urine tests were mostly used. Urine tests can only detect drug use from 7 to 10 days prior, but now hair tests are conducted, which can trace drug use up to six months back.” If someone is found to have used drugs abroad and then enters China, it is considered equivalent to using drugs in China and is subject to Chinese law. If someone is caught carrying drugs into the country by Chinese customs, regardless of the quantity, it is not defined as illegal possession but as smuggling, which is a criminal crime. Officer Hu confidently stated, “That’s why drug users don’t dare to come in. If they do, they will definitely be arrested.”
New Problems Arise
China’s counternarcotics efforts have yielded significant results, but drug issues remain a complex social problem with strong stubbornness and recurrence. New problems and challenges continuously emerge. Foreign drugs are penetrating China on all fronts and entering through multiple channels. Small-scale and sporadic drug manufacturing activities still occur from time to time. Drug trafficking activities, including external smuggling, large-scale trafficking, and maritime trafficking, have notably increased. Drug trafficking through logistics and delivery channels has become more prominent, and the concealment of offline group drug use has further intensified. The spread of new types of drugs is accelerating, and drug abuse is continuously increasing and escalating.
Among these issues, the iterative abuse of new types of drugs and the vulnerability of some teenagers are the concerns most emphasized by the interviewed police officers. They hope that the public will pay close attention to these problems.
The new type of drugs disguised as milk tea and coffee | Source: Chinanews
The Emergence of New Types of Drugs
“Some teenagers don’t even realize they are using drugs. In recent years, traditional drugs have disappeared in some areas, while new drugs like Etizolam have risen strongly. Compared to synthetic drugs, the addicted population of Etizolam is younger, with the youngest addict being only 13 years old,” Officer Yang told me.
“If I encounter someone on the street who has used methamphetamine, my sense of smell will immediately alert me, making it easy to identify the drug user,” an officer told me. “However, Etizolam is a colorless, odorless flammable liquid. Unlike traditional drugs such as methamphetamine, which have a distinctive smell, e-cigarettes mixed with Etizolam are hard to detect, even when smoked on the street.”
In the comment sections of short video platforms, users of “drug-laced e-cigarettes” communicate using jargon and then exchange contact information to arrange offline transactions. In this case, they are actually engaging in drug-related activities. The harm of Etizolam is by no means inferior to traditional drugs; it can even cause more severe damage to the brain and nervous system, making it highly addictive. Users may experience symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, blurred vision, hand tremors, convulsions, irritability, and memory loss. When consumed beyond the body’s tolerance, it can even lead to death.
The new type of drugs disguised as e-liquids | Source: Chinanews
Teenagers’ Indifference to Drug Abuse
More and more Chinese students choose to study abroad at a fairly young age. In many languages, the words for drugs and medicines are the same. This linguistic nuance leads some abroad students to believe they are merely skirting the edge of ‘medicine abuse,’ not realizing they are engaging in drug use. Upon returning to China, due to the country’s stringent counternarcotics efforts, they hide on the internet, using jargon to communicate and gather. For instance, they might refer to themselves as ‘BroO’ (overdose) in their social media circles or leave comments like ‘O ignorant 24T room’ (taking 24 pills of OxyContin in a hotel room) on social platforms, making it difficult for others to detect.
“In late 2022, the first time I caught that girl, she was using laughing gas. Since she was underage, we could only administratively detain her but not execute the punishment according to the law, so we had to release her back to her parents after a warning,” Officer Hu told me. “Less than half a month later, she died. She tried to achieve a similar sensation to laughing gas by drinking two packs of dextromethorphan cough syrup with cola in one go…”
“When that girl died, dextromethorphan was not yet under control, but it has now been regulated.” According to the “Announcement on Adjusting the List of Psychotropic Substances” (No. 16 of 2024) by the National Medical Products Administration, the Ministry of Public Security, and the National Health Commission, starting from July 1, 2024, dextromethorphan, nafuraline, lorcaserin, and compound preparations containing diphenoxylate have been included in the list of second-class psychotropic substances.
Dextromethorphan, commonly known as hydrobromide dextromethorphan, is a dextrorotatory morphine derivative with cough-suppressing effects, often used to treat coughs caused by respiratory infections. Large doses of this medication can be addictive, producing sensations of euphoria, intoxication, and hallucinations. If the dosage is further increased, it can lead to central nervous system depression, resulting in decreased reaction time, drowsiness, coma, respiratory depression, and even death.
For normal people, it’s impossible to know which medications can produce drug-like effects when overdosing. However, for those who have been involved with drugs, clues are everywhere—in online jargon and among the people drifting through the streets. “The girl died in a short-term rental, and the large dose of dextromethorphan was also purchased through an online platform. These were things taught to her by the ‘roommates’ she met after she started using drugs.”
In contrast to this girl, a middle school boy was lucky. After swallowing 20 dextromethorphan pills, he experienced severe breathing difficulties and collapsed. His life was saved only because his parents discovered him in time. Afterward, he deeply regretted his actions, but during his three years of community drug rehabilitation, he suffered from rage, insomnia, and toothache caused by drug abuse.
The difference between these two cases lies in whether they were under supervision. Teenagers who drop out of school without effective supervision and educational guidance from school and family are more likely to be exposed to drugs and even conduct drug-related crimes.
Parents’ Unconsciously Exposure to Drugs
Every year, as the time for high school and entrance exams approaches, so-called “smart medicines” that claim to improve academic performance appear in parents’ chatrooms. Some of these medicines, made from pure starch, algae oil, and fish oil, at most swindle money. However, some so-called “smart medicines” contain substances like modafinil, Adderall, and methylphenidate. These central nervous system stimulants can improve concentration and reduce the need for sleep in the short term, but they are highly addictive, have strong tolerance and side effects, and can inhibit or damage the neural development of teenagers, causing symptoms like mania, depression, and suicidal tendencies.
Searching on online shopping platforms, a large number of “exam prep medicines” and “smart medicines” sourced from the UK, the US, Germany, and Canada have notable sales figures. Coupled with the increasing tolerance of drugs in Western countries in recent years, this is truly alarming. In addition, drugs disguised as weight loss pills, aphrodisiacs, and novelty beverages are also quietly spreading on micro-commerce networks, with victims either taking them willingly or drinking them unconsciously in bars.
Critical Difficulties and Challenges
“In recent years, cases involving teenage drug crimes have mostly involved new types of drugs. Compared to traditional drugs, new drugs are easier to manufacture, more accessible, cheaper, and easier to disguise, making teenagers a vulnerable group,” a prosecutor told me. The city he works in has a large population and a vibrant entertainment scene. “From 2019 to 2021, teenage drug cases were almost nonexistent in our area. But in the past two years, there has been a subtle resurgence. My brain is about to explode for this.”
The rise of contactless rental rooms has provided a new breeding ground for teenage drug use. “In the past, places where teenagers committed drug-related crimes were mainly KTVs, internet cafes, inns, and hotels. With the technological advancements of the public security departments and the implementation of measures such as the ‘Mandatory Reporting System,’ the environments available for drug use have been greatly reduced. However, in recent years, contactless rental rooms have proliferated in large cities, quickly becoming places for teenagers to gather for drug use and other crimes.”
Ensuring that the occupants of online rental rooms match the identity documents provided is a current regulatory challenge. “For example, the ID uploaded during booking might belong to an adult, but the actual occupant could be a teenager once they receive the check-in code.” Limited grassroots police resources make it impossible to conduct comprehensive inspections across the entire jurisdiction, and public enthusiasm for supervision is low. “The police have also required contactless rental rooms to use facial recognition for check-in, similar to hotels. However, there is currently no mandatory legal basis for enforcing this requirement, and many room owners do not cooperate.”
Even licensed online rental rooms have regulatory blind spots, and unregulated rental rooms are even more concealed. “These rooms don’t display signs or set up front desks. Bookings and transactions are conducted online. The lax content censorship by social media platforms exacerbates the difficulty for government departments to intervene and increases the challenges for police in gathering clues and solving cases,” the prosecutor explained.
In recent years, China’s counternarcotics departments have launched swift and powerful actions to address the issues of new types of drugs and drug abuse. These measures include monitoring sewage in residential areas to determine the scale of drug abuse in the region and tracking and investigating hidden corners based on these findings. Using the physiological reactions of mice after drug intake, they have established sentencing guidelines for the ever-emerging new drugs. Every year, they update the list of controlled narcotics and psychotropic substances and jointly conduct special inspections for the supervision and management of these substances. Efforts to increase counternarcotics awareness among teenagers have also been intensified, with special campaigns launched during winter and summer holidays to prevent drug-related crimes involving teenagers.
In 2023, China solved over 42,000 drug-related criminal cases, arrested more than 65,000 suspects, and seized 25.9 tons of various drugs. China’s counternarcotics efforts have made steady progress, ensuring that the drug problem is under control, eradicated, and never rebound.
“I believe the issues with online rental rooms will also be resolved, just like the criminal spaces in e-sports hotels, bars, and KTVs in previous years.” However, it always takes some time from the exposure of new problems and new phenomena to enacting relevant laws and regulations and implementing enforcement practices. “I hope the public, especially young people, will be vigilant about the ever-emerging new phenomena and not step into an abyss of no return out of curiosity or a desire for excitement,” the prosecutor concluded.
Conclusion
On June 26, 2023, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released the World Drug Report 2023 in Vienna. The report highlights that the number of drug users worldwide has increased by 23% over the past decade; in 2021, the global demand for and production of cocaine reached an all-time high; and in recent years, new synthetic drugs have also experienced an unprecedented surge.
Excerpt of World Drug Report 2023 | Source: UNODC
Amid the global surge in drug abuse, China remains a haven. However, just 70 years ago, China’s opium poppy cultivation area was as large as one million hectares. When the People’s Republic of China was established, more than 4.4% people of the country were addicted to drugs.
From 1950 to 1952, the PRC launched a vigorous counternarcotics campaign, identifying 369,705 drug dealers, seizing about 200 tons of drugs, 235 drug manufacturing machines, and 15,716 sets of equipment, as well as 263,459 tools for drug trafficking and storage. In just two to three years, China effectively eradicated the opium scourge that had plagued the nation for over a century, cleansing the persistent social ill left by the old society and creating a universally recognized miracle. From the 1950s to the late 1970s, China was renowned as a “drug-free nation” for nearly thirty years.
However, with the advent of the economic boom brought by the Reform and Opening Up Policy and globalization, international drug trafficking has also persistently infiltrated China. The phenomena of drug cultivation, production, consumption, and trafficking, represented by heroin and methamphetamine, have resurfaced in the country.
The fight against drugs never stops. From border crossings to dense forests and vast sea areas, thrilling counternarcotics operations are repeatedly carried out. Generation after generation of counternarcotics police officers continues to press forward. Behind every statistic are countless days and nights spent away from home and some “anonymous heroes” who will never return home.
Counternarcotics police officers usually avoid showing their appearances to the public because drug dealers may retaliate against them and even their families. | Source: People’s Daily
By the end of 2023, China has 896,000 drug users, a year-on-year decrease of 20.3%, accounting for just 0.064% of the total population. Since 2020, public satisfaction with national counternarcotics efforts has consistently remained above 96%.
Nowadays, Chinese people often feel that drugs are very far away from their lives. This is because the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking might be only the day of June 26th, but in China, it is every moment of every day.
