Chinese courts conclude over 20,000 drug-related cases in 2025: SPC

BEIJING -- Chinese courts concluded 23,732 first-instance drug-related cases in 2025, sentencing nearly 7,400 individuals to imprisonment of five years or more, the Supreme People's Court said Thursday.

Compared with 2024, the number of drug cases fell by more than one third, while the severe sentencing rate increased by 4.4 percentage points, said Liu Weibo, an SPC judge, at a media conference.

"In recent years, while China's drug situation has continued to improve overall, it has also undergone profound and complex changes," Liu said.

He noted that cases involving new types of drugs, such as those related to anesthetic and psychotropic substances and new psychoactive substances, are on the rise. The abuse of non-scheduled addictive substances such as nitrous oxide has also become a prominent problem.

Adolescents make up the main group involved in the abuse of new drugs and non-scheduled addictive substances, with a clear trend toward increasingly younger users, Liu said.

Chinese courts adhere to the principle of strictly punishing drug-related crimes, while acting in the best interests of minors. For crimes of rape or sexual molestation of minors committed by using anesthetic, psychotropic drugs or other addictive substances, offenders are to be severely punished in accordance with the law.

For minors involved in drug-related offenses who have gone astray, are first-time or occasional offenders, or who were lured or coerced into committing crimes, more lenient penalties shall be applied, Liu emphasized.

The SPC is leading the drafting of normative documents on the handling of cases involving new types of drug crimes, which will include specific provisions on the treatment of drug-related cases involving minors.