SPC metes out tough justice for drug crime

More concern over young offenders as narcotic trafficking spreads inland

China's courts are handing down more severe sentences to deal with the rapid growth in drug-related crimes across the nation, said the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Wednesday.

During the first five months of 2014, China saw a 30 percent rise in drug-related cases compared to the same period last year, amounting to a total of 43,180 cases, Ma Yan, a senior SPC judge, said at a press conference Wednesday.

The cases involved selling, trafficking and transporting drugs, or murders committed under the influence of drugs, according to the SPC statement.

To curb the growth, courts nationwide have imposed harsh punishments on 9,168 convicts among the total of 39,762 sentenced. They were given jail terms of five years or above, life sentences or the death penalty. These harsher penalties saw a 23 percent increase from last year in total, he said.

Ma said the surge in the national drug crime rate started in 2007, which saw 38,000 cases, up to 97,000 in 2013, a 16.3 percent annual growth.

The SPC also stated that drug trafficking has spread through the southwestern border regions like Yunnan Province and Chongqing Municipality, and northeastern regions like Liaoning Province, and exhibits a trend of moving inland.

"Most of China's drugs are imported from Golden Triangle countries including Myanmar, Laos and Thailand," Wang Shaotao, a Yunnan-based drug crime lawyer, told the Global Times.

"The geographical proximity has made Yunnan a popular funnel for cross-border drug trafficking," said Wang.

While the growth in drug criminals remained steady over recent years, Wang has observed that the quantities of drugs transported have increased over the last two years, and may reach 40 to 50 kilograms at one time in some cases.

He said most drugs are transported to and consumed in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Hunan Ppprovince and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Guangdong has topped the list for drug-related cases since 2007.

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court released a white paper on Tuesday detailing the rise the number of foreigners in the city involved in drug-related crimes.

The paper stated that foreigners from Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe make use of the convenience of Guangzhou's location and turned the city into a hub for drug consumption, manufacturing, selling and trafficking.

Teenagers using drugs has also become a rising concern, and 75 percent of the nation's total 2.58 million drug-abusers on record are young people under 35 years old, Liu Yuejin, a senior official at the Ministry of Public Security was quoted as saying by the Beijing News.

"They mostly start taking drugs under peer influence at school or in their social circles," he said.

In a written instruction made public on Wednesday ahead of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which falls on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on authorities to be aware of the danger of drugs and adopt forceful measures to wipe them out.