Yu Haoyang
Since its founding in 1921, the Communist Party of China, which takes changing China’s destiny as its responsibility, has been engaged in a profound struggle against drugs. Moreover, it has advocated resolutely bans on all kinds of drugs that harm the nation from the very beginning.
Over the past 100 years, the Party has led the whole nation in the continuous struggle and achieved a significant leap from poverty and weakness to prosperity and strength. At the same time, it has led the people of the whole country to carry out the great practice of controlling drugs, improved and reversed the situation of drug abuse and flooding in China, and made outstanding achievements in anti-drug work one after another.
Since 1953, China has created a miracle of a ‘drug-free country’ lasting for almost 30 years. Over the past century, the drug control work under the leadership of the Communist Party of China has been carried out in an all-round way and accumulated valuable practical experience in the success.
Drug control must adhere to the leadership of the CPC
Since its founding, the Communist Party of China has deeply realized the critical connection between the spread of drugs and the invasion of imperial powers, and the accumulation of poverty in China.
Since then, the Party has vowed to ban drugs in China and closely linked the task of eliminating drugs with the goals of national independence, people’s liberation, and national rejuvenation. Unlike other political groups that had appeared on the land of China, the CPC’s policy orientation of controlling drugs has remained unchanged for more than a hundred years.
Its will to control drugs has never changed, and it has never compromised or conceded to the drug problem. It conforms to the trend of the people’s pursuit of happiness and national rejuvenation, stands on the side of the overwhelming majority of the people, and stands on the right side of history.
This is the fundamental reason why the CPC has successfully led the Chinese people to achieve one great victory after another on the road of drug prohibition. This is also the embodiment of the Party’s original intention for the people.
Controlling drugs on the land of China is not only one of the Party’s unswerving goals but also the ardent expectation of Chinese people. This is the embodiment of the Party’s adherence to the supremacy of the people.
The nature of Marxist political parties determines that the Communist Party of China has no special interests of its own. The Party’s goals are in accord with the demands of the people. The CPC and the people in China are of one mind, sharing weal and woe and living together.
Upholding the leadership of the CPC in drug control is not only the common aspiration of the Chinese people but also the need to safeguard the common interests of the Chinese people, as well as a necessary condition and fundamental political guarantee for the resolute and sustained eradication of drug abuse on the land of China.
Drug control must adhere to the ‘people’s battle against drugs
The people are the greatest strength of the CPC in governing and rejuvenating the country. The‘ people’s battle against drugs is a successful path that has been tested by history and is a ‘magic weapon’ for drug control that has been tested by practice.
On the eve of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in 2020, President Xi Jinping gave essential instructions on anti-drug work. He called for efforts to continue the tough anti-drug stance and the people’s battle against drugs to make new progress in drug control.
We can see that the people’s battle against drugs embodies the CPC’s determination and attitude to control drugs and regard drugs as enemies that endanger national security and people’s happiness.
On the other hand, the people’s battle against drugs embodies the people’s character of the anti-drug struggle led by the Party. That is to say, in the face of the ferocious and harmful drug problem, the anti-drug struggle is a people’s battle in which the people extensively participate.
The masses are by no means bystanders of the anti-drug struggle but actual participants in the anti-drug struggle. The Communist Party of China comes from the masses and to the masses, and it relies on the people to win continuously.
The CPC believes that the people are the creators of history and the source of the Party’s strength, and the Chinese people are great, glorious, and heroic. The centennial history of the development of the Communist Party of China profoundly illustrates this irrefutable truth.
The Party has overcome one difficulty after another and won one victory after another by relying on the people. In leading the critical battle of the national anti-drug struggle, it also needs the strength of the people and requires the full and broad participation of the people.
Drug control must persist in seeking truth from facts.
The course of drug control by the Communist Party of China reflects the development, innovation, and improvement of the control method after the analysis and judgment of the drug situation at different stages. This is the embodiment of seeking truth from facts based on the drug reality and the background of the times in China, and also the embodiment of keeping pace with the times in anti-drug work.
As President Xi said, seeking truth from facts is the fundamental viewpoint of Marxism. Moreover, it is not only the fundamental requirement for the members of the CPC to understand and transform the world, but also the basic ideological, working, and leading methods of the CPC.
In the aspect of anti-drug work, the Communist Party of China insists on seeking truth from facts based on recognizing the overall situation of drugs at home and abroad, accurately grasping the situation of drugs in China, facing the difficulties and challenges encountered in the process of drug control practice without concealing and evading， adhering to the clear policy orientation of the Party in controlling drugs for more than a hundred years, responding to the people’s expectations of banning drugs and pursuing a better and harmonious life.
The CPC is good at grasping the rules, acting following the objective laws, and adhering to the anti-drug path that conforms to the national conditions and the drug situation in various historical periods. This is another valuable experience for the CPC’s anti-drug work.
Drug control must be carried out following the law
The Communist Party of China has permanently attached great importance to the construction of the rule of law, and the issue of drug control is no exception. As early as the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the Communist Party of China began to strengthen the rule of law in drug control.
Based on promulgated laws and regulations, the CPC advocated the social atmosphere of drug control and drug rehabilitation by implementing legal norms and guiding the people to consciously drug control and drug rehabilitation.
In addition, since the promulgation of the Provisional Criminal Law of the Soviet of the Northeast Jiangxi Special Zone in 1931, the Communist Party of China has severely cracked down on drug-related crimes through punishment, which punished drug-related criminals and also deterred those who attempted to commit drug-related crimes.
To this day, cracking down on crime by illegal means is still one of the essential means to deter drug criminals and curb the spread of drugs and has played a massive role in drug control in China.
The Communist Party of China was born when China was in crisis. Since its establishment, it has taken national independence and people’s liberation as its goal. The CPC resolutely resisted and eradicated opium, which was used by imperialist powers to harm the Chinese people, and resolutely cracked down on drugs that harmed people’s health, social harmony, and stability.
This is not only the CPC’s firm pledge to the Chinese people but also its firm political stance. By promulgating laws and regulations to resolutely combat drugs and safeguard people’s health and social stability with the power of the rule of law, this is a clear pledge of the Communist Party of China to oppose drugs at the level of law and order resolutely and also a resounding echo of the people’s desire to oppose and combat drugs.
It is a valuable experience for the CPC to guide and guarantee China’s drug control work with the rule of law and prioritize the practice of drug control.
*The writer is a Researcher of the National Research Center of Drug Issues Governance of SWUPL.
*The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the institutions.
