(East-West Question) Mo Guanyao: Why does China actively participate in and promote international cooperation in drug control?
China News Agency, Kunming, June 25th: Why does China actively participate in and promote international cooperation in drug control?
——Interview with Mo Guanyao, professor of the School of Law and Sociology of Yunnan Normal University
China News Agency reporter Miao Chao
In today's world, the globalized drug problem has posed a major threat to the survival and development of human beings.
In the face of drugs, no country can stand alone, and anti-drug work requires the cooperation of all countries.
China has always actively participated in and promoted international cooperation in drug control and has played an important role in the world of drug control.
June 26 this year is the 35th International Anti-Drug Day. In Yunnan, the frontier of China's anti-drug and the main battlefield, China News Agency "East-West Question" interviewed Mo Guanyao, a professor at the School of Law and Sociology of Yunnan Normal University, explaining China's participation in and promotion of anti-drug Concepts and methods of international cooperation.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service: Where did the drug problem in China begin, and what impact did drugs have on China's historical process?
Mo Guanyao:
The drug problem in China starts with the import of opium in the Tang Dynasty.
In the early Tang Dynasty, opium was gradually spread by Arab merchants as tribute to the Chinese emperor via the "Silk Road" of the northern land route.
The Ming Dynasty was an important turning point in the drug problem. Zheng He's voyages to the West opened up the "Silk Road" on the sea in the south. The trade between China and the West increased, and the import of opium increased.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, opium has been quietly transformed from medicinal to a hedonic substance, and began to disperse among the people.
The court was filled with an atmosphere of extravagance and indulgence. It was in this atmosphere that opium became a "magic product" that the nobles were keen on, and the emperor was no exception. This was one of the reasons that led to the final collapse of the Ming Dynasty.
In the Qing Dynasty, opium was further imported into China.
From the establishment of the opium policy by the British East India Company in 1800 to the outbreak of the Opium War in 1839, the British-dominated colonists imported a total of 638,119 boxes of opium into China, resulting in a surge in the number of opium smokers in China, reaching 25 million. Social issues that endanger the rise and fall of the Chinese nation.
In order to solve the scourge of opium, the Qing government sent Lin Zexu to Guangdong to ban smoking.
"Humen sold cigarettes" touched the interests of the British. For this reason, they launched the first Opium War in 1840, which opened a chapter of humiliation in modern Chinese history.
A series of unequal treaties, ceded land and indemnity, China has become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country.
Statue of Lin Zexu in the Opium War Museum in Humen Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province.
Photo by Song Haitao issued by China News Agency
China News Service: In modern times, opium has brought unprecedented humiliation to the Chinese people. How does this affect the Chinese people's attitude towards drugs?
Mo Guanyao:
From a historical perspective, the Chinese believe that the drug problem is a major issue that threatens national security, territorial integrity, national prosperity, people's well-being, economic development, and social stability.
The Chinese people are deeply concerned about the harm of drugs, and China has always adhered to the attitude of resolutely and severely punishing drug crimes.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese government led the people to carry out a vigorous anti-drug struggle. In three years, the opium drug, which had plagued the country for centuries, was banned.
But China's southwest border Yunnan is adjacent to the "Golden Triangle", one of the world's major sources of poison.
Since the late 1970s, the international drug wave has been invading China, and drug-related illegal and criminal activities caused by transit drug trafficking have been revived.
In the face of the new drug problem, for more than 40 years, the Chinese government has taken a highly responsible attitude towards the country, the nation, the people and all mankind, adhered to a strict anti-drug stance, and took all necessary measures to ban drugs as much as possible to benefit the people.
Chinese police destroy seized drugs.
Photo courtesy of China News Service Yunnan Provincial Public Security Department
China News Service: China's anti-drug work is often carried out in the form of a "people's war against drugs". What are the characteristics of this form?
Mo Guanyao:
The drug problem involves chemistry, medicine, sociology, law, social governance and other fields. The construction of the drug governance system and governance capacity is a complex, arduous and long-term social project. Scientific and effective construction activities should focus on grasping strict The principles of governance, system governance, source governance, comprehensive governance and legal governance.
Drug control social governance is an important part of China's national governance system, and the Drug Control Law clearly stipulates that "drug control is the common responsibility of the whole society".
The "people's war against drugs" has become a unique form of drug control in China. This form can give full play to the working mechanism of the broad participation of the whole people and the concept of drug control social governance, and incorporate drug control social governance into the national governance system and become an important part.
In 2005, China launched the first round of the People's War against Drugs. It is now the fifth round and has made great achievements.
Yunnan, the frontier of China's anti-drug and main battlefield, has solved more than 10,800 drug cases based on public reports since 2005.
Practice has proved that launching a people's war against drugs is a successful practice of giving full play to China's institutional and political advantages and mobilizing all forces to work together to solve the drug problem.
A simulated drug model used by the police for anti-drug propaganda.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Chao
China News Service: How does China actively participate in global drug governance and comprehensively promote international cooperation in drug control?
Mo Guanyao:
In recent years, with the rapid development of economic globalization and social informatization, the global drug problem has also developed and spread, and drug-related countries and regions have further expanded. A major issue for human survival and development.
Against this background, the situation in China's anti-drug fight is not optimistic.
The Chinese government believes that drugs are a worldwide public hazard faced by all mankind, and drug control is an urgent and common responsibility of the international community.
Strengthening international anti-drug cooperation is very necessary to promote the worldwide anti-drug struggle and fundamentally solve China's drug problem.
Therefore, China has always actively participated in and promoted international cooperation in drug control and has played an important role in the field of drug control in the world.
China-Laos-Myanmar-Thailand Mekong River joint patrol and law enforcement drills in the waters of the Mekong River Golden Triangle.
Photo courtesy of China News Service Yunnan Provincial Public Security Department
China's international anti-drug cooperation mainly takes the following forms:
One is to carry out international anti-drug cooperation under the coordination of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; the other is to carry out cooperation based on inter-governmental international organizations, such as the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization" anti-drug cooperation mechanism, the "BRICS" anti-drug cooperation mechanism, the "Lancang-Mekong Comprehensive" The Law Enforcement Security Cooperation Center's anti-drug cooperation mechanism; the third is the anti-drug cooperation based on China and regional organizations, such as the anti-drug cooperation mechanism between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; the fourth is the multilateral anti-drug cooperation mechanism, such as China and Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia's anti-drug cooperation mechanism and the Lancang-Mekong joint cruise mechanism.
Fifth, drug control cooperation mechanisms based on China and other individual countries, such as China-Myanmar, China-Vietnam, China-Laos and China-Philippines drug control cooperation mechanisms.
In addition, China has anti-drug cooperation based on the International Criminal Police Organization and anti-drug cooperation based on border areas.
China-Laos Myanmar-Thailand-Mekong joint patrol and law enforcement is carried out on the Lancang-Mekong River.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Miao Chao
China News Service: What is the current situation of international drug control, and how should China respond?
Mo Guanyao:
At present, drug-related crimes in China have been curbed, and the drug situation has continued to improve and further consolidated and expanded, showing a decrease in the number of existing drug addicts, large-scale drug production activities, loss of drug production materials, and outflow drug traffickers. Wait for the positive changes of the "four reductions".
However, affected by factors such as the spread of the new crown epidemic, the global drug epidemic has further developed.
The report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime shows that the new crown pneumonia epidemic not only has a major impact on the global economy, public health and people's way of life, but also brings many new changes to the global drug production supply, trafficking methods and consumer demand.
The "Golden Triangle", "Golden Crescent", "Silver Triangle" and other drug source areas have weakened the anti-drug work, the economic recession has led more farmers to turn to drug cultivation, the global drug production has remained high, and the rising unemployment rate has caused more poor and vulnerable people to turn to drug addiction Or engage in drug-related criminal activities, about 275 million people worldwide currently use drugs.
In June 2022, the police of China and Laos jointly cracked a major drug case and seized 1.44 tons of drugs.
Photo courtesy of China News Service Yunnan Provincial Public Security Department
Affected by the above situation, China's anti-drug work faces new risks and challenges.
In this regard, the content and form of drug prevention education in China need to be constantly updated, anti-drug education needs to be carried out by target and at different levels, and the coverage and awareness of anti-drug knowledge need to be improved.
In dealing with smuggling, transportation, trafficking, and drug-making crimes, it is also necessary to maintain a high-pressure situation of drug control law enforcement, and to crack down on drug-related crimes unswervingly.
The work of community detoxification and community rehabilitation also needs to be strengthened urgently, to fill the shortage of professional institutions and talents for anti-drug social work, to strengthen drug rehabilitation and assistance services for drug addicts, and to do a good job in their social reintegration.
At the same time, in order to deal with the increasingly globalized and networked drug crimes, it is necessary to carry out all-round international cooperation in drug control, and contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese strength to the international drug control arena.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Photo courtesy of the interviewee issued by China News Agency
Mo Guanyao is a professor at the School of Law and Sociology of Yunnan Normal University.
Member of the expert database of the National Narcotics Control Office, member of the expert database of the Internet Education Center of the National Narcotics Control Office, member of the China Anti-Narcotics Network Think Tank, member of the China Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Association, member of the expert committee, chief expert of the Anti-Drug Social Work Professional Committee of the China Social Work Federation, and Asian Drug Abuse Director of the Research Society.
He has published more than 30 books and textbooks, including Anti-drug Science, Anti-drug Law, Investigation of Drug Crimes, Anti-drug Social Work, and Drug Prevention Education.
He has participated in the drafting and revision of the "Anti-Drug Law" and "Drug Rehabilitation Regulations", and presided over a number of national, provincial and ministerial-level topics such as the "Regulations on Drug Abuse Testing Procedures" and "Drug Rehabilitation Legal Documents".