National Resistance (4)

Four milestones in Anti-drug History since the Foundation of New China

Recalling the development course of China 's anti-drug history, it is not difficult to draw that China's anti-drug work is also a history of national rejuvenation, as it always comes with the development of national economy, as well as social and legal construction. There are 4 landmark events vividly representing China's anti-drug work in various periods, not only reflecting our developing evolution in the work, but fully demonstrating our consistent position to fight against drugs.

The first milestone: When the New China was founded in 1949, there were 20 million drug addicts as well as 1 million hectares of poppy planting in China. On average, one people in 25 had been a drug addict; on the other hand, there were 300,000 drug traffickers. A spectacular campaign against opium and narcotic drugs was launched nationwide after the adoption of the General Order on Strict Prohibition against Opium and Narcotic Drugs by the Central People's Government Administration Council on February 24, 1950. The Chinese Communist Party had given full play to the advantages of the socialist system, mobilizing and depending on the most widely scope of the people and combining stringent punishment with transformation to forfeit narcotics, prohibit opium poppy planting, seal up opium dens, and severely punish drug trafficking activities. During this period, more than 80,000 drug traffickers were sentenced, 20 million drug addicts attended the drug rehabilitation program, and poppy cultivation was eradicated by rural land reform. China virtually eradicated opium infestation that had lingered in China for a century within just three years, and created universally acknowledged miracle. We not only consolidated people's new political power, but also established a positive prestige and image of the party and the government, and won trust and love from the masses. Hence, since 1950s till the end of 1970s, China had been renowned as a drug-free country around the world for almost 30 years.