China

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The rank of top illicit drugs in China remained consistent between 2006 and 2008 with heroin being the most prominent drug, followed by methamphetamine in both pill and crystal form, ecstasy and ketamine.

Use of ATS and ketamine has been on the increase for all reporting years between 2003 and 2008. Over the same period, heroin and opium use showed fluctuations with a stable use trend reported for both drugs in 2008.

The number of registered drug users for ‘new-type drugs’, which is predominately ATS, as well as ketamine, has increased dramatically in recent years, from 1.7% in 2004 to 11.1% in 2007 and 19% in 2008 (NNCC, 2008b and 2009). Crystalline methamphetamine accounted for 47% of ‘new-type drug’ users, 36%, ketamine, with another 17% of users of unspecified ATS. In some regions in North-East and South-East China, the problem of ‘new-type drugs’ is reported to be severe with the number of registered ATS users in those regions being higher than that of opiate users (NNCC, 2009a). This new trend notwithstanding, the number of heroin users accounted for 77.5% of total registered drug users nationwide in 2008 (NNCC, 2009).

Arrest, seizure and price data

China does not disaggregate their arrest data by drug type in reports submitted to DAINAP. The total number of drug related arrests in China has shown a relatively modest 15% increase over the 2003 to 2008 period with 63,700 arrests in 2003 compared to 73,360 arrests in 2008. About 84% of the arrestees were male.

Among ATS related cases (or investigations) between 2005 and 2008, the number of crystalline methamphetamine related cases increased 5-fold with 15,154 cases in 2008 compared to 3,007 in 2005. While the number of heroin cases is still more than double that of ATS cases, it has been relatively stable around 30,000-35,000 cases annually over the period.

Illicit drug seizures in China are dominated by ATS seizures, while cases are still dominated by heroin. It shows the trend in total annual ATS seizures in China between 2001 and 2008. Between 2005 and 2008, crystalline methamphetamine seizures stabilized between 5.5 and 6 tons, while the number of ATS pills increased considerably during the same period. In contrast to ATS, seizures of heroin, the top ranked drug in China, have declined from 6.9 tons in 2005 to 4.3 tons in 2008.

There also appears to have been an increasing diversification of synthetic drugs (UNODC, 2009c). Several seizures of ATS pills have been reported to contain mixtures of MDMA, methamphetamine and ketamine, as well as other combinations. Recently, drugs marketed as ‘happy water’ were found to contain a mixed liquid of methamphetamine, amphetamine and ketamine, while another product, marketed as ‘fairy water’, contained a mixture of MDMA, nimetazepam and codeine (UNODC, 2009c). The diversification of synthetic drugs both in terms of marketing, as well as new compositions, highlights the need for continuous monitoring of patterns and trends of use and comprehensive forensic analysis of the synthetic street drugs.

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