China had 2.95 million registered drug addicts at the end of 2014, but the real number who have used narcotics is thought to exceed 14 million, the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.
That means one of every 100 Chinese may have used drugs, said Liu Yuejin, assistant minister of public security, at a press conference.
Although the spread of traditional drugs such as heroin has been largely curbed, the number of identified synthetic drug addicts has risen sharply to 1.46 million, six times the number in 2008, according to a report on China's drug situation, the first released by the Chinese government.
Synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine are easier to produce than heroin, which needs to be extracted from opium poppies with a long growth cycle, Liu noted.
"Moreover, such synthetic stimulants can better pander to thrill-seeking young people," he added.
The report revealed that people using drugs in China are becoming younger. Among the 480,000 newly identified addicts in 2014, 29,000 were under the age of 18 and around three quarters were under the age of 35.
In the past, drug users were mostly the unemployed, farmers, private business owners and migrant workers. Now the demographic is expanding to include significant numbers of employees of public institutions, freelancers and entertainers, it said.
Drug abuse is doing more harm to society, with annual economic losses of 500 billion yuan (108 billion U.S. dollars). Around 49,000 of the registered drug users in China died in 2014. HIV has infected 3.5 percent of heroin users and 1.4 percent of synthetic drug users, according to the data released by the national drug abuse monitoring center.
Cases of suicide, self-mutilation, drug-driving, attacks on police and violent crime resulting from drug use have also been seen.
CELEBRITIES IMPLICATED
A number of Chinese celebrities, mostly actors, were detained by the Beijing police over drug offenses in 2014.
In January, Jaycee Chan, son of kungfu star Jackie Chan, was sentenced to six months in prison and fined 2,000 yuan for allowing others to take drugs in his home.
Some of the disgraced celebrities blamed their drug use on career pressure or the need for inspiration while creating art.
