Domestic Affairs

    High demand

    By Linda Gibson (chinadaily.com.cn)
    Updated: 2010-06-28 09:33
    Large Medium Small

    A report from the Beijing Higher People's Court (no pun intended) says the number of foreigners caught smuggling drugs into China has exploded in the past several years.

    "The problem of foreigners smuggling drugs is getting worse," reported the Court.

    Blaming foreigners for drug abuse is a predictable response. It's also incorrect. As any good capitalist could tell you, it's always the demand that determines a market, not the supply.

    There are exceptions, of course, many of them. But those are products and services for which demand is created by massive amounts of advertising. Nobody really needs fast food or luxury cars, but lots of people buy them because advertisements tell them they "deserve" these things.

    That isn't happening with drugs such as heroin or ketamine (or any other recreational substances except the legal one, alcohol).

    Drug dealers come to China because the Chinese want to buy drugs – apparently, more of them than ever.

    Incomes and stress levels have risen dramatically for many Chinese. It's not surprising that the rates of drug abuse have gone up, as well.

    Here's a chance for Chinese authorities to carefully study how developed countries have coped with this problem, and avoid the expensive mistakes made in some of them. The approaches used in the United States and the Netherlands differ radically, and have produced very different results.

    The Netherlands chose to stop punishing people for using small amounts of less dangerous drugs, such as marijuana. Some cities have even gone so far as to provide "safe injection rooms" where people can use hard drugs such as heroin. Drug abuse rates in the Netherlands have stabilized or decreased, and remain much smaller than in the United States.

    The US still aggressively pursues its "War on drugs" policy of using law enforcement against drug use. People caught with even small amounts of marijuana for their personal use face arrest and imprisonment.

    That approach costs massive amounts of money, has raised incarceration rates sky-high and still failed to reduce drug use.

    China will need its own approach. The most potent weapon against wrongdoing here probably is public opinion. If authorities are going to invest any money in fighting drugs, their best return will be on public education programs about the great loss of face suffered by drug abusers.

    Simply blaming foreigners for the problem won't help at all.

    无码人妻丰满熟妇啪啪网站| 无码人妻AⅤ一区二区三区水密桃| 日韩少妇无码一区二区三区| 人妻中文无码久热丝袜| 人妻中文字系列无码专区| 久久影院午夜理论片无码| 蜜桃臀无码内射一区二区三区| 亚洲av中文无码| 中文字幕在线精品视频入口一区| 97无码免费人妻超| 精品无码AV一区二区三区不卡| 成人无码WWW免费视频| 日韩欧美一区二区三区中文精品| 中文字幕丰满伦子无码| 亚洲高清无码综合性爱视频| 狠狠噜天天噜日日噜无码| 无码精品久久久天天影视| 亚洲欧洲无码AV电影在线观看| 中文字幕在线最新在线不卡| 亚洲电影中文字幕| 日韩中文字幕在线视频| 中文字幕乱码久久午夜| 色吊丝中文字幕| 中文在线资源天堂WWW| 亚洲中文字幕在线观看| 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线r▽| 中文字幕久久精品无码| 亚洲精品乱码久久久久久中文字幕 | 无码av免费网站| 无码一区二区三区| 亚洲精品无码成人AAA片| 在线观看片免费人成视频无码| 久久久久久无码国产精品中文字幕| 日韩中文字幕在线播放| 欧美一级一区二区中文字幕 | 区三区激情福利综合中文字幕在线一区 | 八戒理论片午影院无码爱恋| 永久免费av无码入口国语片| 无码日韩精品一区二区免费 | 无码AV大香线蕉| 中文字幕无码无码专区|