Drug Policy and Governance
How drug policies are made, interpreted, implemented, and adjusted across public security, health, justice, civil affairs, and community systems.
Xiamen University Research Group
Contemporary Drug Policy-Making Research
CDPMR · Policy process · Governance transformation · Research practice
The Contemporary Drug Policy-Making Research Group at Xiamen University studies drug policy as a dynamic process of governance rather than a fixed set of laws. The group examines how drug problems are defined, how policies are formed and implemented, and how they evolve across actors and institutions. A central concern is the hybrid nature of drug policy, combining routine governance with crisis response, campaign-style mobilisation, and strong state coordination.
01Policy-making processes02Actors and stakeholders03Knowledge and discourse04Implementation and governance
02Key Research Themes
The Transformation of Drug Governance in China
The ‘late-stage’ or ‘post-drug-control’ phase in which traditional drug problems decline, institutions adapt, and governance priorities shift.
Enforcement, Treatment, and Rehabilitation
The relationship between coercive control and welfare-oriented services, including compulsory treatment, community rehabilitation, and reintegration.
Drug Social Work
Drug social workers as active agents navigating bureaucratic demands, professional identity, and organisational constraints within state-led service systems.
Drug Use and Social Life
How families, peer networks, gender, stigma, and social identity shape drug use and recovery, including the experiences of ageing users, women, and LGBTQ+ communities.
Emerging Drug Issues
Synthetic and new psychoactive substances, online drug markets, polydrug use, harm-reduction and decriminalisation debates, policy equity, and social justice.
03 / Research–Practice Collaboration
Understanding how policies work, for whom, and with what consequences.
The group works closely with anti-drug authorities and frontline institutions to connect research with practice.
01Policy evaluation and reform02Community rehabilitation and social services03Frontline governance and implementation studies04Drug prevention and public education05Emerging drug trend monitoring
04Why Xiamen?
A distinctive setting for prevention, rehabilitation, and institutional adaptation.
Xiamen provides a valuable setting for studying drug governance where traditional drug problems are less visible and governance increasingly focuses on prevention, rehabilitation, and institutional adaptation. It also enables comparison with other regions in China, including Yunnan, Xinjiang, Liangshan, and major urban centres.
05Future Research Priorities
The ‘late stage’ of drug prohibition and institutional adaptation
The shift from campaign-style to routine governance
Evidence-based policy evaluation
Emerging drug trends and policy foresight
Social justice and the human consequences of drug policy
How is drug governance being transformed in contemporary China?
By combining policy research, fieldwork, and comparative perspectives, the group examines how a changing policy environment is reshaping drug governance in China and contributes to both Chinese governance studies and global drug policy debates.