Beijing's fight against drugs proving successful

Beijing courts have seen a rapid decrease of drug-related crimes over the past three years, thanks to a stronger combat in this regard.

Data released by the Beijing High People's Court showed on Tuesday that the number of drug-related crimes solved by courts across the city dropped from 413 in 2020 to 203 in 2022.

The figure of such cases in the first five months of this year was 79, down 19.4 percent year-on-year, according to the data.

"Drug-related offenses in the city have been effectively curbed on the whole, and the fight against drugs has also been moving toward the better," Sun Lingling, vice-president of the high court, told a news conference while introducing the data.

She said that the capital's courts have penalized 1,143 people for drug-related crimes since 2020, revealing that 234 of the total were sentenced to five years or more in prison. In China, a prison term of five years or more is considered a heavy punishment.

"The death sentence was given without hesitation to criminals whose behaviors had met the standard of death penalty in the Criminal Law, such as those who smuggled or transported drugs in large quantities, or who organized others to transport drugs multiple times," she added.

On July 30, 2019, for example, a flight passenger surnamed Chen was found carrying 30 bottles of white powder while going through customs at the Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport.

The customs officers immediately stopped Chen, who was just back from Brazil and planning to go to Shenzhen, Guangdong province. After a test, the powder was identified as cocaine, and the amount was over 24 kilograms.

Considering the quantity of drugs Chen smuggled was large enough, he was given a death penalty.

While pledging to continue the stronger combat against drugs, Sun also ordered courts citywide to provide more anti-drug knowledge for residents help enhance prevention awareness, "because new types of drugs are mostly disguised as e-cigarettes, candies, chocolates and beverages with misleading packaging, making it more difficult for public to know what they're consuming," she added.

In addition to introducing drug knowledge in primary and middle schools, Xiao Jiangfeng, chief judge from the high court's No 1 Criminal Adjudication Tribunal, said that such activities will also be held in universities, considering a major target for new types of drugs is college students.