Big decline in drug crimes seen last year

Ministry of Public Security: Overall situation showing positive trend

China saw big drops in the number of drug crimes, drugs confiscated and drug users newly detected last year, indicating the country's drug problem is easing, a Ministry of Public Security spokeswoman said on Monday.

In 2020, police nabbed 427,000 drug users (down 30.8 percent year-on-year), cracked 64,000 drug-related cases (down 22.9 percent), arrested 92,000 criminal suspects (down 18.6 percent) and seized 55 metric tons of drugs (down 14.8 percent), the ministry said.

The number of newly discovered drug users under the age of 35 decreased by 31.5 percent year-on-year, it said.

The figures show that the country's anti-drug fight has been effective and the overall drug situation is following a positive trend, Zhang Ming, a spokeswoman for the ministry, said at a news conference.

She said large-scale drugmaking activities in China have seen a significant drop, and the high incidence of drug-related crimes has been curbed.

The ministry has promoted a digital platform for drug prevention education among young people. More than 98 million students have registered on the platform to study related information, it said.

Thanks to joint efforts by the government, judicial authorities and society, awareness of drug dangers among the general public, especially among young people, has been significantly enhanced, Zhang said.

She also responded to a suggestion made by some national legislators last week about a lifetime performance ban on entertainment stars and public figures if they are found using drugs.

She said police nationwide have dealt with such cases in recent years and will continue to pay close attention to the issue. The violators have set a negative example for their fans, especially teenagers, and have paid heavy prices for their offenses.

Zhang called on public figures to abide by laws and regulations, and care for their images to win the respect of their fans and the public.

The ministry has also maintained pressure on crimes endangering food and drug safety, damaging the environment and infringing intellectual property rights, she said.

Police solved 19,000 food safety cases and arrested 34,000 suspects from May to December, both figures almost double those in a similar campaign from July 2019 to April.

In the latest campaign, police also resolved 4,600 cases that endangered drug safety and 8,600 cases of IPR infringement and counterfeiting.

Prosecutors have intensified efforts to fight crimes related to food and drug safety.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate launched a three-year operation in July to supervise the market and law enforcement departments.

From July to December, procuratorates across the country handled 7,569 public interest litigation cases concerning food and drug safety, with nearly a quarter related to food ordered online.

Xu Quanbing, deputy head of the top procuratorate's 8th procuratorate office, said the punitive damages in civil public interest litigation still lack systematic legal provisions, and multiple central government departments are working on improving the provisions to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and increase penalties for violations.