China's first national penalty for using drugs takes effect

The Regulations on Public Security Administration Punishments, adopted on 5 September 1986, took effect. They were the first national rule to punish drug use: smoking opium or injecting morphine or other drugs in breach of government bans brought up to 15 days' detention, a fine of up to 200 yuan or a warning. Growing opium poppy or other drug plants brought the same detention, a fine of up to 3,000 yuan and the uprooting of the crop. The regulations say nothing about possessing a drug, and the Criminal Law of 1979 punished only making, selling and transporting; possession became an offence with the decision of 1990.^[1]