JINAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The number of drug addicts in eastern China's Shandong Province continued to decrease, following the first drop registered in 2017, according to the provincial public security department Thursday.
There were a total of 51,000 drug addicts reported in Shandong as of mid-June, 16.4 percent less than that of 2017, when the number of drug addicts registered a decline for the first time.
The drug addicts took up about 0.05 percent of the province's total population, the department said.
The number of drug addicts aged below 18 also declined sharply to 82 from more than 1,000 in 2015, which showed that drug consumption market in Shandong has been diminishing, the department said.
Local police busted more than 4,700 drug-related criminal cases, arrested over 5,000 suspects and seized over 800 kg of drugs since 2018.
Shandong has been promoting anti-drug education in more than 2,000 schools, 1,200 public venues and a radio program was also opened as part of a movement to fight against narcotics.
