Recently, there is a news which is a PhD Candidate from a university in Shanghai has been convicted of drug trafficking for buying "Date rape drug" online out of curiosity that has sparked a heated debate.

Hereafter there is the basic outlines of the case. The male accused named Wang bought some drugs by connecting overseas dealer through online internet who was being a research associate at a university of ShangHai city. In March 2022, Wang was arrested by the police and detained 20 white tablets, weighing 3.03 grams in total, and have been identified as brotiazolam, in his residence as well as found out 5 liquid articles, weighing 10.59 grams, and midazolam was identified.

What are controlled psychotropic drugs?

Psychotropic drugs are drugs that act directly on the central nervous system to make it extremely excited or inhibited. Psychotropic drugs are divided into the first class psychotropic drugs and the second class psychotropic drugs. Any ‘Catalogue of Narcotic Drugs’, ‘Catalogue of Psychotropic Drugs’, ‘Supplementary List of Controlled Non-Medicinal Drugs and Psychotropic Substances’ which are included in belong to psychotropic and narcotic drugs under control if who is unauthorized use, management, are likely to be considered for the drug, which constitute such as smuggling, trafficking in, transporting, manufacturing or illegally holding stakeholders such as class of drug crime.

How to defined purchase behavior of the control psychotropic drug?

Article 2, Paragraph 2 of our country's Drug Control Law points out that "Narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs may be produced, traded, used, stored and transported according to law in accordance with the needs of medical treatment, teaching and scientific research."

In the "Qualitative Problems of Illegal Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and psychotropic drugs" issued by the SPC, it is also clearly pointed out that, "If the perpetrator, for medical purposes, violates the state regulations on drug control, illegally sells the above-mentioned narcotic drugs or psychotropic drugs and disturbs market order if the circumstances are serious, Be convicted and punished for illegal business operation."

"The Understanding and Application of the Symposium on the Trial of Drug Crimes in National Courts" further clarified: "Narcotic and psychotropic drugs usually have dual attributes. No matter they are sold through legal channels or circulated through illegal channels, as long as they are normally used by patients and play a curative effect, they belong to the medicine which are legal; It is a drug only if it is abused by drug addicts."

It can be seen that the key to drug identification in psychotropic drug cases lies in the purpose of drug use. If the medication is used for medical purposes, the drug cannot be identified as a drug, and the behavior of the perpetrator cannot be identified as a drug crime.

Returning to Wang’s purpose of the case, although the existing evidence could not prove that the purpose of the purchase was to rape unspecified women, but Wang knew that the drugs purchased were subject to national control, and sent drugs into the country through the national postal service is also a smuggling behavior. Finally, the court convicted the defendant Wang of drug smuggling.

Editor reminds you that you should strengthen the understanding and understanding of drugs in daily life. If you meet relatives and friends who ask you to buy medicine overseas, you must read the instructions carefully. For those who ask you to buy psychotropic drugs controlled by the state, you must decisively refuse.

In addition, China implements strict control over psychotropic drugs. Does not easily provide transportation, mail storage and other help for drugs to whose cross-border origin is unknown, so as to avoid violating the law.