International academic journal Nature magazine published an article entitled “China expands surveillance of sewage to police illegal drug use” on its latest issue on July 19.

The article mentions that many countries in the world only apply the wastewater-based analysis results to epidemiological research. Zhongshan city is the earliest to use forensic technique to evaluate the effectiveness of the drug-reduction programs.

Reportedly, China’s first “waste water drug detection” project was piloted in Zhongshan in early 2017. Zhongshan Public Security Bureau signed agreement with College of Urban and Environmental Sciences of Peking University on June 23, 2017, when the first “university-police cooperated” drug environmental forensic science (drug situation monitoring) lab was founded in Zhongshan.

According to Zhongshan Public Security Bureau, for the past year, the police has tracked down 45 drug-related criminal cases and arrested 341 drug users and dealers through the project.