Published on: 2026-06-25
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
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Beijing, June 25 /Xinhua/ — In 2025, Chinese courts considered 23,732 cases related to drugs at the first instance, and sentenced 7,398 people to prison terms of five years or more, the Beijing People’s Court /BPC/ reported on Thursday.
Compared to 2024, the number of cases reviewed has decreased by more than a third, while the share of severe punishments (over 5 years) has increased by 4.4 percentage points, specified Judge of the Supreme People’s Court Liu Weibao at the press conference.
“In recent years, the situation with drugs in the country has continued to improve, but at the same time, deep and complex changes have occurred in it,” he said.
Liu Weibao noted that the number of cases related to new types of drugs is growing, including anesthetic and psychoactive substances and new psychoactive substances. A serious problem has also become the abuse of substances not included in control lists but causing dependence, such as nitrous oxide / “laughing gas”, he noted.
According to him, the main group using such new drugs and substances consists of adolescents, and there is a clear trend towards a decrease in the age of consumers.
In a changing situation, Chinese courts adhere to the principle of strict punishment for crimes related to drugs, acting in the interest of minors. For such crimes as rape or molestation of minors, committed using anesthetics, psychoactive substances, or other addictive substances, punishments are provided according to the full severity of the law.
At the same time, mitigation of punishment is allowed for juveniles who, having lost their way by mistake, committed a crime for the first time or accidentally, or who were lured or forced to commit the crime, said Lu Weibao.
The UNS leads the work on developing regulatory documents for considering cases of crimes related to new types of drugs, which will include special provisions applicable to minors.
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