China's drug-related crimes decline amid intensified law enforcement efforts

Drug-related crimes in China have been further curbed under sustained high-pressure law enforcement, resulting in declines in the number of cases, offenders, and large-scale drug manufacturing and trafficking activities, a senior prosecutor said on Thursday.

Miao Shengming, deputy prosecutor-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, reported that from January 2025 to May 2026, procuratorates nationwide approved the arrests of over 29,000 suspects in drug cases, marking a 36 percent year-on-year decrease, and prosecuted more than 46,000 individuals, down 30 percent.

Despite these gains, prosecutors warned that drug control remains a complex task. New types of drug offenses and the abuse of substances not yet officially controlled are becoming prominent, partly due to drug infiltration from overseas.

Miao stated that procuratorates have strengthened the handling of drug-related money laundering by requiring both the original drug crime and related financial crimes to be investigated. From January 2025 to May 2026, more than 1,200 people were prosecuted for drug-related money laundering.

Prosecutors have also targeted drug crimes involving the internet and parcel delivery services, pushing delivery companies to enforce strict real-name registration, parcel inspection, and security screening to eliminate hidden drug distribution channels.

During this period, procuratorates provided early guidance in over 1,800 major drug cases, supervised the filing of more than 900 cases, corrected oversights involving over 900 suspects who should have been arrested, and addressed omissions involving more than 800 accomplices who should have been prosecuted.

They also filed over 300 appeals or retrial protests in drug cases, leading to revised judgments in more than 100 cases and increased penalties for over 100 individuals.

In a highlighted case, a former auxiliary police officer surnamed Liu in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, withheld about 30 grams of methamphetamine from cases between February and July 2022. He later gave part of the drugs to a person surnamed Chen, agreeing that Chen would sell the remainder. Liu received 15,900 yuan ($2,340) through WeChat payments disguised as online gift transactions. Initially sentenced to three years in prison for theft and drug trafficking, Liu's sentence was increased to seven years and 10 months following a procuratorial protest, while Chen received seven years for drug trafficking. Liu's appeal was rejected in August 2025.