China steps up punishment for drug-related crimes

China's top court on Thursday released a new judicial interpretation on rules for drug-related convictions and sentencing, stepping up punishments for such offenses.

The document, issued by the Supreme People's Court (SPC), adopted stricter rules for ketamine-related violations by lowering the amount threshold for criminalization of the drug by half.

Ketamine abuse in China is quite serious, said Fang Wenjun, a senior justice of the SPC. The number of ketamine users continues to grow, and ranks third among substances, after methamphetamine and heroin, in terms of involvement in drug-related violations.0 Production and sale of the drug has also been on the rise in recent years, and harsher rules are needed to deal with it, Fang said.

An increase in users and violations has resulted in a number of cases of self-mutilation, violent crime and driving under the influence, according to the SPC judge.

The new document also added 12 new types of illegal drugs to be subject to criminal penalties and lowered the threshold for conviction of illegal use for 33 precursor chemicals.

Drug-related crimes by state officials and illegally providing narcotics to juveniles will be subject to harsher punishments, according to the SPC interpretation.

The interpretation also covers relevant offenses conducted online.

The new rules will take effect starting April 11. Endi