NCJ Number
117647
Date Published
1988
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This paper traces the history of measures adopted by the Peoples Republic of China to combat drug trafficking and abuse.
Abstract
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the government immediately issued a decree prohibiting drugs and took resolute measures to wage a nationwide campaign against them. Early in February 1950, the government issued the Ordinance Prohibiting Opium Addiction, which stipulated that opium poppy cultivation, drug manufacture, and drug traffic were strictly forbidden. Violations were severely punished. In 1952 the government mounted a large-scale program against drugs that produced the arrests of thousands of drug manufacturers and traffickers. A few of the most heinous offenders were sentenced to death. Over the past 30 years, the government has consistently adhered to a policy of strict drug prohibition. Article 171 in the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, adopted in 1979, stipulates that 'whoever manufactures, sells, or transports opium, heroin, morphine, and other narcotics is to be sentenced to not more than 5 years of fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention and may in addition be sentenced to a fine.' In 1982 the sentence was increased to not less than 10 years imprisonment, life imprisonment, or death, along with possible confiscation of property.