Drug cases shoot up 16 percent last year in China

Drug use is a major problem in societies across the globe, and it is the young who are particularly vulnerable. Sometimes I wonder if legalizing their as was done with alcohol when prohibition ended here in the United States would be a better approach, although I realize there are pitfalls to this as well. The one advantage I see in legalizing drugs is that it may severely limit the number of drug-related crimes, such as those occurring in Mexico at this time. TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

BEIJING – China says drug cases shot up 16 percent last year from 2008 with courts convicting more than 56,000 people.

Chinese courts handled more than 50,000 drug trafficking cases in 2009 and about 17,000 people received severe sentences — from five years in prison to a death sentence — up almost 9 percent from the year before, the Supreme People’s Court said Thursday.

Police seized nearly 28 tons of drugs last year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.

Saturday is the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, and China kicked up its state-run propaganda machine to show it is tackling drug abuse, a growing problem in the country.

A live China Central Television broadcast Friday showed more than two tons of drug packets neatly laid out in rows in the southern city of Dongguan. More drugs were being burned in a line of cauldrons nearby.

Drugs seized in China last year showed a shift toward newer types of narcotics. Court officials told a news conference Thursday that new kinds of drugs, including methamphetamine and ketamine, made up almost 40 percent of the drugs seized last year, an increase of about 7 percent from the year before.

The bulk of the rest, including heroin and opium, came from neighboring border regions of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, the officials said.

China had 1.34 million registered drug addicts as of the end of last year, Xinhua reported.

A law in 2008 ended the practice of sending drug users to labor camps, ordering them instead to be sent for community rehabilitation or to specialized drug rehabilitation centers.

But Human Rights Watch this year said the law has been poorly implemented, leading to continuing — sometimes lethal — abuse.

About The Great One

Am interested in science and philosophy as well as sports; cycling and tennis. Enjoy reading, writing, playing chess, collecting Spyderco knives and fountain pens.
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One Response to Drug cases shoot up 16 percent last year in China

  1. PHATPOOCH says:

    I interview a young man who has used Heroin most of his life he recently relapsed after eleven month’s clean time this video is quite graphic

    The Harsh Reality of Drug Addiction

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuNWCPDrJsM

    Next we have a woman named Lisa she has been on all the current Harm reduction program’s available in Vancouver’s Downtown eastside
    this is a sad sad story this poor woman only has her addiction to look forward to in her life

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuNWCPDrJsM

    Last but not least we interviewed more woman who talk about the pro’s and con’s of Heroin vs. Methadone

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb7mAvgPz_4

    You be the judge the whole reason for these videos is to bring some truth out about the addiction support services that are in use here in Vancouver. My research has been on a personal level for over twenty five years in addiction as well as these and many more video interviews. Thank you recovered addict

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