Gao Guijun, presiding judge of the No 5 criminal court of the Supreme People’s Court, at a press conference on June 24.

Drug crime cases in China have increased steadily in recent years and the Supreme People’s Court will deal strictly with these cases, said Gao Guijun, presiding judge of the No 5 criminal court of the Supreme People’s Court at a press conference on June 24.

The number of drug cases has risen from 38,500 in 2007 to 106,803 in 2014, with convictions increasing from 43,360 in 2007 to 109,692 in 2014, according to Gao. The geographical distribution of drug crimes has spread to the whole country, and is not limited to the frontiers and coastal areas as in the past.

Gao said that such cases are relatively centralized in the south, southwest and east of China. He said that crimes of smuggling and manufacturing drugs have increased, but so have more “street-level” offences such as drug retailing, sheltering drug addicts and illegally holding drugs. The hazard of drug use has grown too, Gao added.

On May 18, the Supreme Court published the summary of the National Courts Trials on Drug Crimes symposium. The summary imposed four specific requirements on the courts in dealing with drug crimes: dealing strictly with drug crimes, improving trial standardization, completing trial procedures, and supporting comprehensive drug treatment. It also standardized some law application issues in drug offence trials.

At the press conference, Gao also circulated reports on five unique drug crime cases.