Doing drugs in China
Top society and culture news for March 22, 2017. Part of the daily The China Projectย news roundup "Microsoft Windows โ Chinese government edition."

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China arrests 168,000 for drug-related crimes in 2016ย / Xinhua
Chinaโs National Narcotics Control Commission said on Wednesday that police arrested 168,000 suspects for drug production or trafficking in 2016. They also seized 82.1 tonnes of drugs, including heroin, methamphetamines, and ketamine. The Commission says that the country has over 1 million drug addicts, with 357,000 people successfully treated for addiction in 2016, but that the spread of drug-related crimes had been โeffectively contained.โ
Earlier this week, the China Daily reportedย onย a development โthat echoes TVโs Breaking Badโ in which โsome Chinese chemistry professionals have begun producing and selling illegal substances,โ noting that the most abused illegal drug in China is methamphetamine, often called โice.โ Police say that the average street price for ice in 2015 was 500 to 1,000 yuan ($70 to $140) per gram (0.35 oz.). The report also says that a growing problem is the production of ย new psychoactive substances, or designer drugs, that are not yet regulated. These include methcathinone and a variety of substances listed by the China Dailyย here. Some of the newer drugs, including the elephant tranquilizer carfentanil, which has become a serious problem in the U.S., have already been added to Chinaโs controlled substance list.
If you have not yet heard it, you can listen to a Sinica Podcastย interviewย with an American who spent seven months in a Beijing detention center, accused of dealing in marijuana. - Printing the ancient way keeps Buddhist texts alive in Tibetย / NYT (paywall)
- As the 20th anniversary of the handover to China nears, Hong Kong artists meditate on space, memoryย / Quartz
- For Chinaโs middle class, Brooklyn real estate offers more than a green cardย / CNBC
- China goes west: A ghost city in the sand comes to lifeย / The Guardian
- Disneyโs โBeauty and the Beastโ soars in China, a hit with young female audiencesย / LA Times
- Beijingโs underground secret: The proliferation of illegal basementsย / The Beijinger
- 30 years in the life of one Chinese square โ in picturesย / The Guardian






