China's anti-drug efforts yield results, yet complex threats persist

Prosecutorial authorities across China approved the arrest of more than 53,000 people for drug-related crimes between January 2024 and May this year, a year-on-year decrease of 14 percent, senior Chinese officials said on Wednesday, highlighting both progress and persistent challenges in the country's drug control efforts.

Miao Shengming, deputy procurator general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, announced the figures at a news conference in Beijing, held one day ahead of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

In the same period, over 65,000 individuals were prosecuted for drug-related crimes, a figure roughly unchanged from last year, according to Miao.

"In recent years, the overall number of drug-related criminal cases approved for arrest and prosecution has shown a continuous downward trend, indicating significant achievements in China's anti-drug efforts," he said.

However, Miao noted that drug crimes are becoming increasingly complex, involving "a mix of domestic and international, traditional and new, online and offline elements".

He warned that the infiltration of drugs from overseas has intensified and new types of drug offenses are becoming more frequent. "There is still considerable pressure to prevent drug infiltration from abroad and a rebound in domestic drug abuse," Miao said.

Procuratorial agencies have also ramped up efforts to combat drug-related money laundering. From January 2024 to May this year, authorities approved the arrest of more than 700 suspects and prosecuted over 1,300 for drug-related money laundering offenses, a year-on-year increase of 2.1 percent, he said.

Yuan Ming, chief of the procuratorate's major crime department, also spoke at the briefing and released details of 10 representative drug cases. He said the cases illustrate the growing prominence of emerging drug crimes.

"Traditional drug crimes are declining, while new types of offenses are on the rise," he said, emphasizing the growing problem of abusing alternative addictive substances such as medical narcotics and psychotropic drugs.