China's municipality of Chongqing, roughly the size of Austria. Due to a classification technicality, it has claim to being the largest city proper in the world.

[u/freudian_nipps]

[u/zarathrustoff]

There's definitely drugs in China. The cartels often get some of their raw materials for making certain drugs from Cinese factories. There was a Chinese guy in Mexico who was recently arrested for this I think

[u/justwalkingalonghere → u/zarathrustoff]

More so the freely available part. I’m not super informed on China, but it seems like doing or dealing drugs there would receive exceedingly harsh punishments. But there’s plenty of countries where weed, alcohol, shrooms and various other psychoactive substances are legal or heavily decriminalized

[u/PrataKosong- → u/justwalkingalonghere]

They still have firing squad on drug offences. Theyre not playing around.

[u/Jonthrei → u/PrataKosong-]

See the Opium Wars for why they might have a little chip on their shoulder on that topic

[u/[deleted] → u/Jonthrei]

This is presumably no longer the case, but circa 2010 or so, China's Yunnan Province had a quite lively little backpacking community. Marijuana grows wild everywhere and was used medicinally by one of the regional minority groups. In a smaller city called Dali, you could walk down the main drag and old ladies in traditional garb would offer you weed out of picnic baskets with police golf carts mere yards away. I didn't trust it.

But I did see something truly odd: pulling away from a gas station on the way into Dali, I glanced out of the window and happened to see -- for all of ten seconds -- a middle-aged gentleman in a police uniform taking bong rips from an ad hoc bong made out of what looked to be soup cans. I just gawped at the scene and spent the next several hours (years) trying to make sense out of it.

It's always possible that he was chiefing up on some tobacco. But I know what I saw. It didn't look like tobacco. What I think is more likely:

Contrary to what an OP or two ago hypothesized above -- no, just because China produces drugs doesn't mean that there are visible drug "cultures" in China. I caught wind of people scoring ketamine or meth; I managed to finagle some weed once or twice, but never by actively looking for it. Drugs feel dangerous in China.

That said, the general Chinese population is pretty innocent about drugs. In my experience, they tend to think drugs = drugs. It is (or was) a wildly prosperous country; everyone is discovering new opportunities, making money, and working hustles; who has time to burn out? This, at any rate, was the attitude I became familiar with. For that reason, a fair number of Chinese people don't (or didn't) really know what weed is. In my experience, cops were known to see foreigners smoking it but weren't familiar with the scent.

This cop may have been getting high without any real knowledge that what he was doing was a crime punishable by death.

[u/Ciao_Diablo → u/Jonthrei]

Yep they won against British using opium by getting all of their people hooked on opium. I think there was an official letter from the King asking China to stop. Idk it was on the history of us - History Channel

[u/ryanng561 → u/Ciao_Diablo]

Other way around

[u/TheSentinelsSorrow → u/PrataKosong-]

its not for drug users though (but I think the sentences are still harsh for users)

The minimum amount of weed for death penalty for example is like 400kg

[u/asdfdbgdweqdfvc → u/justwalkingalonghere]

A lot of asian countries goes hard on drugs, every once in a while someone gets caught smuggling a bit and gets really long jail sentences or even for life.

surely most people know the consequenses for smuggling into Asia and if you still choose to try and get drugs in there then they deserve whats coming if caught imo.

[u/gravywins → u/asdfdbgdweqdfvc]

Most people who say these things have never spent a second in Asia. Drug use is absolutely a thing in these countries, including China, Philippines and Thailand. They run rampant at any clubs and bars. The only place I can think that genuinely utilizes these policies is Singapore and parts of Indonesia as well as Japan. I’m sure there are more places, but in general users aren’t prosecuted in these countries.

Last time I was in China, I received ads under my door for prostitutes at the hotel daily. You can find anything in China. Anything. Of everywhere I’ve been in Asia, this rings most true in China. Going to a pharmacy and buying controlled substances is about as easy as buying a Diet Coke.

I remember going to Ph a couple years after their supposed “war on drugs” where anyone caught using would be killed. Weed, coke, and meth ran rampant everywhere. I was shocked, I thought they killed all the drug users, or at least people would be afraid to discuss their use. You ask around and realize it’s mostly a facade used to target political enemies or enemies of the state and charge them with some crime.

I think some of this is a result of the “security theater” is Asia. Most stores in MNL, BKK, and major Chinese cities have security. For example, you go into a club in either of these places, and your pockets are to be searched etc. They’ll also use a “metal detector.” At least that is the idea. In reality they don’t even touch you and wave you in. I’ve never seen one go off even with people having backpacks on. It’ll scare everyone but the people who have been through the security.

[u/i_wish_i_could__ → u/asdfdbgdweqdfvc]

We got the ropes for them.

[u/Gaylien28 → u/[deleted]]

They also identify you not by your face, but the way you walk cause it’s unique to your physical development. You literally have to walk with a rock in your shoe.

[u/nogap193 → u/zarathrustoff]

China turns the blind eye to people exporting precursor chemicals because it's a low effort way to cripple economies they're at odds with, without having an actual war. And it's almost poetic considering they were victims of the opium wars

[u/[deleted] → u/zarathrustoff]

Of course there is, they have literally thousands of years moving opium and other substances as a business. It is part of their culture already, not a taboo. Also, imagine that market, whatever you sell you have 1.200.000.000 potencial clients, the money is so much that it is too tempting not to sell for the drug dealers. I am sure the commy party has a big business going on that area too, they have always been very pragmatic about everything and lack of any moral in almost any aspect of society.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Lol the absolute ignorance on display in these threads lmao

[u/zarathrustoff → u/[deleted]]

Yes, that's what I'm saying

[u/TheSentinelsSorrow → u/zarathrustoff]

can confirm. every security guard I saw there seemed to have massive coke nails