Chinese courts see sharp decline in drug-related cases

Chinese courts have witnessed a sharp decline in the number of drug-related trials in recent years thanks to efforts to stamp out such offenses, a senior official with China's top court said on Tuesday.

Courts at all levels concluded a record 139,000 drug-related cases in 2015, but the number began dropping the next year amid a harsh crackdown on drug crimes, Supreme People's Court Vice-President Li Shaoping said.

Last year, courts nationwide concluded 85,800 drug-related cases, down 38.27 percent from the number in 2015, he said.

Li said defendants in about 22.4 percent of drug-related cases from 2015 to 2019 were sentenced to five years or more in prison.

During those five years, Chinese courts dealt strictly with people who made, smuggled, sold, bought or transported large quantities of drugs, as well as those who committed crimes after taking drugs, he said.

Li said some problems that persist include the high incidence of drug smuggling in coastal and border areas, and the rising number of cases involving defendants who made drugs on their own using new materials.

While calling for courts to impose harsher punishment of those guilty of drug-related crimes, Li also said efforts to prevent the jobless and young from getting involved in drugs should also be emphasized.