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New Psychoactive Substances and Law Enforcement Responses in a Local Context in China—a Case Study of Methcathinone

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Abstract

The illicit supply of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in and from China has become a global concern. In line with the international prohibitionist regime, China has instituted a “zero tolerance” supply reduction policy, enacted various laws to regulate controlled substances, and punished related criminal behaviors severely. However, how the NPS supply is organized and how the national laws are interpreted and implemented at the local level have rarely been addressed. Data from qualitative interviews with governmental and judicial actors are used to investigate the experiences concerning the illicit supply of methcathinone and the dynamic ways in which drug policy and laws are implemented practically. Findings show the significance of Changzhi city as a distribution center for illicit supply of methcathinone, the fixed supply patterns, the prioritized measures for controlling methcathinone supply and demand, and the personal strategies used by individual actors to cope with political pressures and job requirements. This study concludes that the unbalanced coexistence of campaign-style and conventional governance results in active institutional arrangements and passive personal strategies in implementing the drug policy and further contributes to a discrepancy between policy formulation and its implementation in practice.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all interviewees for their collaboration with the research project on which this paper is based.

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  1. East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, China

    Minqi Zhao

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Zhao, M. New Psychoactive Substances and Law Enforcement Responses in a Local Context in China—a Case Study of Methcathinone. Asian J Criminol 15, 267–284 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-020-09315-2

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