Shanghai treated DC diet pills as narcotics, and a reversal has begun
Several people in Shanghai who had taken Diet Clinic (DC) diet pills bought from Thailand were found by the police to be taking drugs and were penalised and ordered into community rehabilitation. Because the pills contain a controlled psychotropic substance, using them unlawfully can indeed amount to drug use. Counsel instructed by those affected argued that measured use of the pills for weight loss at normal dosage should not be so classified, and the police have accepted that argument and opened a review. Overdosing on the pills over the long term remains drug use.
In recent weeks a number of people in Shanghai who had taken Diet Clinic (DC) diet pills sourced from Thailand have been found by the public security authorities to be "taking drugs", and have been given administrative penalties and decisions placing them under community drug rehabilitation. Those penalised were ordered to report to the place where the rehabilitation is to be carried out within a fixed period.
What exactly is going on here? Why should taking a diet pill lead the police to classify a person as a drug user?
The Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China provides:
"Drugs" means opium, heroin, methamphetamine, morphine, cannabis, cocaine and such other narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances as are controlled by the state and are capable of inducing addiction. Under the Regulation on the Administration of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and the Catalogue of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, the phentermine in DC diet pills is a psychotropic substance, and where it is used unlawfully or in breach of prohibition it should indeed be classified as a "drug".
On that basis, does anyone who takes this diet pill stand to be classified as a drug user?
After some of those who had taken DC diet pills received administrative penalty decisions and community rehabilitation decisions, they came to Shanghai Minton Law Firm for help. The firm took the matter seriously and assigned Ms Shen and Ms Luo to conduct the case. Counsel examined in depth why and how often the users had taken the pills, whether dependence had developed, whether withdrawal symptoms had appeared, and the unlawfulness, dependence-forming potential and harmfulness of the product itself, and concluded that "taking DC diet pills at normal dosage and frequency for the purpose of weight loss should not be classified as drug use". On that basis counsel lodged applications for administrative reconsideration for the people concerned.
The arguments advanced in the applications for administrative reconsideration were accepted by the public security authority, which has begun the relevant procedures to determine the nature of the conduct afresh.
Minton reminds readers that drugs cause enormous social harm: once a person takes them, the damage to the individual, the family and society is severe. DC diet pills contain phentermine, and taking them over the long term in excessive doses is indeed drug use. Readers are advised to stop taking DC diet pills, to stay away from drugs and to value their health.
Readers should keep their eyes open and choose with care. Everyone wants to look good, and DC diet pills are still being sold quite openly in many daigou circles, so cases of this kind may well recur.
Where a similar situation arises, the advice is to contact a lawyer at once and seize the moment for resolving it, so that a professional lawyer can be instructed in time and the best outcome obtained.
Minton Law Firm, DC diet pill working group, telephone:
021-68819098