China has continued its stringent counternarcotics efforts and managed to keep the abuse of illicit drugs under control, according to a report issued on Thursday.

The country cracked 37,000 criminal cases involving illicit drugs last year, with authorities arresting 62,000 suspects and seizing 26.7 metric tons of such substances, the Office of China National Narcotics Control Commission said in the report.

By the end of last year, the number of abusers of opioids in China saw a 28 percent year-on-year decrease, and the number of methamphetamine abusers dropped by 23.3 percent, according to the report.

China, however, is experiencing rapid changes in new types of drugs, the report said, pointing to "serious abuse of narcotics and psychotropic substances".

Etomidate, an anesthetic agent, is one of the primary examples of the drugs that were abused in 2024.

Of narcotic and psychotropic drug abusers the country detected and punished in 2024, about 86 percent were under the age of 35, the report said.

Moreover, some abusers are turning to unregulated substances, such as nitrous oxide, or "laughing gas".

Last year, the country found 49,000 people abused unregulated substances, of whom 30,000 abused laughing gas.

As China strengthens its antidrug efforts, traditional drugs have become expensive and difficult to obtain in recent years, leading to the emergence of unregulated substance abuse, said Shan Yehua, deputy director of the office.

In response, China has continued to regulate emerging substances that are addictive and cause great harm, Shan said.

The country has also stepped up law enforcement measures to crack down on the production, sale and abuse of the substances, Shan said.

In 2024, authorities cracked 566 criminal cases involving laughing gas, arresting 2,293 suspects and seizing 358,000 liters of the gas, she said.

In the first quarter of this year, the country cracked 87 such criminal cases and captured 301 suspects.

The country will launch an online awareness campaign that will run from June to December to increase vigilance among the public — especially young people — against the abuse of narcotics and psychotropic substances, said Gao Wei, deputy head of the Ministry of Public Security's narcotics control bureau.

According to the report, China has not seen serious abuse of fentanyl, which has been wholly regulated. The national antidrug laboratory didn't detect large-scale abuse of fentanyl-related substances in its tests of urban wastewater and drug abusers' hair last year, the report said.

wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn