As the majority of our team at Stay On The Safe Side are from China, we thought it would be interesting to find out what Chinese students opinions on drugs are, as China is seen as one of the strictest countries in regards to drugs usage.
In our interviews with Chinese students at Newcastle University, there were very few students who said they may use drugs, and more would refuse to try them. The use of drugs of and finding them on Chinese campuses is extremely rare as we found out that “you cannot possess drugs in China, especially on Chinese campuses”.
Article 13 of the Anti-Drug Law of the People’s Republic of China state that: “All administrative departments for education and schools shall include knowledge about the fight against narcotic drugs in education and teaching, to disseminate among the students’ knowledge about the need to fight against narcotic drugs.” If students take drugs at school or bring drugs into school, they will always face school suspension and must undergo mandatory detoxification treatment.
After talking with Dr. Watson, she explained that students coming to Newcastle who haven’t been pre-exposed to drugs are in a more vulnerable position. Whilst its evident that culturally, Chinese students would more likely refuse drugs because of their upbringing. Our interviews have shown that not all Chinese students would refuse if they were offered, as in the video one student said she has tried drugs because she was curious. Even though the majority of Chinese students might say no, one interviewee said she tried marijuana out of curiosity because she wanted to “try what it was like.”
This video also showcases the danger of blindly trusting where you get your drugs from. Considering international students such as Chinese students may not have tried drugs before, but when coming to university they may want to try it. Lipson, who was asked if he would use a drug testing kit said he wouldn’t because he doesn’t want other people knowing that he has taken drugs, further supporting the idea that taking drugs or to be seen with drugs is a massive taboo in society. However, one did state that if the kits were free, they would be more likely to use one. Soph, from SSDP (Sensible Student Drug Policy), a society that is run at Newcastle University, urge students to test drugs as it is not difficult to do and can essentially help save lives.
