Sharp Fall in Drug-related Crimes

China saw big drops in the number of drug-related crimes, confiscated drugs, and new drug users detected last year, an indication that the country’s drug problem is easing, a Ministry of Public Security spokeswoman said recently.

In 2020, police cracked 64,000 drug-related cases (down 22.9 percent year-on-year), arrested 92,000 criminal suspects (down 18.6 percent), nabbed 427,000 drug users (down 30.8 percent), and seized 55 metric tons of drugs (down 14.8 percent). And the number of newly discovered drug users under the age of 35 decreased by 31.5 percent year-on-year. A campaign on anti-drug information logged the participation of 89 million students last year and drew the attention of tens of millions more across the nation.

The figures show that the country’s anti-drug fight has been effective, Zhang Ming, a spokeswoman for the ministry, said during a news conference.