Drug crimes decline, but fight continues

With drug crime remaining at a serious level in China, courts have increased their efforts to target offenders at all stages of the narcotics trade over the past five years, according to a top judge.

"We've strictly penalized those who transport, produce and purchase drugs, while criminals engaged in drug-related activities over a long time are our major target and are given heavier punishments," says Ye Xiaoying, chief judge of No 5 Criminal Tribunal at the Supreme People's Court.

Although the number of reported drug crimes declined last year, Ye says the situation remains serious.

She says those convicted of drug crimes often are sentenced to five years or more in prison, which is classified as a "heavy penalty" under Chinese Criminal Law.

"We also severely punish people who commit offenses such as homicide after taking drugs, because their behavior seriously harms others and public order," she adds.

Between 2012 and 2016, Chinese courts handled 541, 342 drug-related cases, of which 534,884 were concluded, according to the top court. In the same period, 543,355 people were punished, of whom over 119,000 were given five years or more in prison.

Cases linked to drugs accounted for 10.5 percent of all the criminal cases Chinese courts heard last year, compared with just 7.7 percent in 2012, she says.

The top court says southern parts of China have been hit hard by drug crimes, and Guangdong province often ranks first for such cases.

From 2012 to last year, courts in Guangdong concluded 94,853 drug-related cases, followed by Hunan and Zhejiang provinces, it says. Guangdong has seen a surge of drug-related crimes in the past few years, the top court says.

"Guangdong, next to Hong Kong and Macao, is a drug distribution center for people involved in the trade from home and overseas, and drug traffickers have never stopped their drug-related crimes there," says Guo Shaobo, deputy director of the Guangdong Public Security Bureau.

Guangdong has about 654,000 registered drug addicts, more than anywhere else in the country, he says.

On June 20, the top court released information on 10 drug cases. In one, a Guangdong native who had manufactured large quantities of drugs in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region was sentenced to death.

Ma Yan, deputy chief judge of the top court's tribunal, says there are as many as 100,000 ketamine users in the country. Ketamine is a powerful drug intended for use primarily as an animal anesthetic. The number of people producing the drug for illegal use is rising rapidly.

"Guangdong is the place where many make ketamine," he says.

Contact the writers at caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 06/23/2017 page15)