China

This section contains an expanded situation analysis, and details about the China CFP in Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

DIC, Hepu. Source: Jimmy Dorabjee/Burnet CHRYunnan and Guangxi are located in South China, bordering Vietnam and Burma (Myanmar). At this southern border of China, the high mountains and dense forest provide good cover for easy border-crossing and illicit drug trade. For this reason, Yunnan and Guangxi provinces attract large numbers of people trafficking heroin, Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS) and methamphetamine precursor chemicals. 

China's vulnerability to drug use and trafficking is hugely enhanced by its close proximity to the Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent, the world's leading production sites of opium, heroin and methamphetamines.

In China, the drug of choice continues to be heroin followed by benzodiazepines, other opiates (morphine, opium) and cannabis. During the past decade ATS have emerged as a significant problem. Ecstasy, known locally as yao tou wan (shaking head pill) has become very popular as a club drug among young people.   

The Government of China acknowledges that the number of drug users is much higher than those registered. Some provinces in China are noted to have higher numbers of drug users, especially Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang and Guangdong. For example, Yunnan province has an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 drug users.

The common profile of drug users in China is male (usually over 80 per cent) aged under 35 years. The average age of female users tends to be younger than their male counterparts. Generally, Chinese drug users are becoming younger and since the early 1990s there has been a rapid increase in the number of female drug users in China. 

While smoking of heroin is still popular, the trend towards injecting is well established. Of significant concern are reports that unsafe injection is widespread among drug users. Additionally, sexual risk behaviours among drug users is of serious concern with multiple sexual partners common and the rate of condom use low.

The greatest risk associated with IDU in China is HIV. IDU remains the main HIV transmission route in many parts of China.  

While the Government of China should be commended for developing the China Action Plan (2006-2010) for Reducing and Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS which contains explicit provisions on harm reduction (needle-syringe exchange, methadone maintenance treatment), coordination amongst key Ministries remains challenging.


Map of China. Source: Google Maps