China’s drug prevention work has achieved remarkable results in 2025, but China’s drug situation is still not optimistic. According to the “2025 China Drug Situation Report,” a total of 27,000 illicit drug crime cases were uncovered and 41,000 suspects were arrested in 2025, a year-on-year decrease of 27.6% and 33% respectively; 33.5 tons of drugs were seized, a year-on-year increase of 25.4%; and 134,000 illicit drug addicts were investigated and dealt with, a year-on-year decrease of 30.3% ([21]). Affected by the international situation, China’s domestic illicit drug situation has shown new characteristics such as intensified cross-regional illicit drug smuggling and trafficking, diversification of illicit drug production and trafficking activities, and the spread of abuse of uncontrolled addictive substances ([21]).

As of the end of 2025, there were 658,000 illicit drug addicts in China, a year-on-year decrease of 11.9%, and there were 4.403 million drug addicts who had not been found to have relapsed after three years of abstinence, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%. The structural changes in the types of abused substances are highlighted. The number of abusers of traditional illicit drugs and anesthetic drugs has decreased, and the abuse of uncontrolled addictive substances has increased significantly and is characterized by a younger age ([21]). On June 25, 2026, the Supreme People’s Court held a press conference on “Punishing New Drug Crimes in accordance with the Law and Preventing Drug Abuse by Minors.” Liu Weibo, President of the Fifth Criminal Division of the Supreme People’s Court, pointed out that adolescents have become the main group for the abuse of NPS and unregulated addictive substances ([19]).

2.2.1. Adolescents’ Overall Awareness of NPS Is Low

Adolescents have a high awareness of traditional illicit drugs, but they know little about NPS. A study used a stratified random sampling method to conduct an anonymous survey among students of all grades in 36 middle schools in Hainan Province ([23]). The results showed that middle school students’ awareness of NPS was lower than that of traditional illicit drugs. Another study conducted a stratified random sampling survey among middle school students ([6]). The results showed that compared with traditional illicit drugs, most middle school students have less knowledge about NPS, and a few middle school students have vague attitudes towards NPS. A survey by Sang Ruijiao et al. ([16]) also found that most students have never heard of NPS such as “Catha edulis” and “bath salts”.

2.2.2. Adolescents Have Insufficient Awareness of the Disguised Forms of NPS

Compared with traditional illicit drugs, NPS have various disguised forms, are updated rapidly, and are highly confusing ([16]) NPS can be disguised as “milk tea”, “candy”, “biscuits”, “chocolate”, etc., which are common in daily life. Young people lack sufficient vigilance towards such disguised forms and are easily deceived by words such as “fashionable”, “fun”, and “harmless”. Empirical investigations further confirmed adolescents’ weak awareness of disguised illicit drugs. Chen Jinfeng conducted a survey among middle school students in Dianbai District, Maoming City, and found that local middle school students had a high level of awareness of traditional illicit drugs and a certain understanding of common synthetic illicit drugs, but a low level of awareness of disguised NPS ([2]).

2.2.3. Adolescents Have Blind Spots in Their Understanding of the Dangers of NPS

Chinese adolescents have significant blind spots in their understanding of the dangers of NPS, especially addiction and health risks. NPS have strong central stimulant and euphoric effects, affecting the normal release of neurotransmitters ([9]). They are highly addictive and difficult to quit. They can also affect human cognition and memory ([8]). Abuse of NPS can lead to chronic intoxication, and illicit drug users will experience paranoid schizophrenia-like symptoms, including auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, and persecutory delusions ([24]). Behaviors such as sharing needles when taking illicit drugs make illicit drug users more susceptible to blood-borne diseases, such as AIDS and syphilis. A study found that the HIV antibody positivity rate among NPS users in a city in southwest China was on the rise ([17]).

2.2.4. Adolescents Have a Vague Understanding of the Legal Attributes and Illegal Consequences of NPS

Adolescents have insufficient understanding of the illegality of NPS. NPS are defined as newly developed or unscheduled synthetic compounds that are not controlled by the United Nations’ 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, but that pose a threat to public health due to their psychoactive effects. “Synthetic illicit drugs” refer to psychoactive substances that are synthesized through artificial chemicals, act on the central nervous system, have stimulating, hallucinogenic, or inhibitory effects, and are prone to dependence upon continuous use. “Unscheduled addictive substances” refer to chemical substances or drugs that have not been included in the national drug control catalog but are addictive and realistically harmful. However, adolescents often equate “unscheduled” with “legal” and then equate “legal” with “safe”. Most adolescents who take NPS are chasing excitement and think it is a fashion ([12]).

“Scheduled NPS” refers to those substances, whether pure products or preparations, that are not controlled by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs but are controlled by Chinese legislation, are susceptible to abuse, and may pose a threat to public health. China has implemented the control of the entire category of fentanyl analogues, synthetic cannabinoid substances, and cathinone analogues since 2019. As of 2025, 510 narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs have been listed for control. However, NPS changes extremely quickly—many substances are quickly replaced by new analogues after being listed as controlled drugs. From 2019 to 2023, a study reported that the proportion of NPS detected cumulatively in a certain city increased from 10.20% to 34.25% of the total drug detection, and the post-00s and post-90s generations were the main abusers ([27]).

2.2.5. Educational Stage and Information Sources Influence Adolescents’ Understanding of NPS

Adolescents’ awareness of NPS varies greatly among education stages. This is related to the difference in the number of anti-drug education programs, anti-drug-related courses, and enthusiasm for participating in anti-drug education activities. Survey research by Sang Ruijiao et al. ([16]) shows that high school students have a significantly higher awareness of NPS than junior high school students. Among college students, the awareness of NPS in different disciplines and majors is significantly different. Medical and police school students have significantly higher awareness and prevention awareness of drugs than students in Comprehensive Universities and Normal Universities. The difference test in this study found that there were significant differences in the answers to “Do you know the difference between new drugs and traditional drugs?” among young students at different educational stages and in different disciplines; the average values of each group were 1.601 for junior high school, 1.798 for high school students, 1.705 for comprehensive universities, 2.000 for police universities, 1.893 for medical universities, and 1.733 for normal universities. The p-value of the variance analysis result is 0.000*, indicating a significant difference. This may be related to the number of anti-drug education propagandas received by medical and police school students and the opening of anti-drug and drug-related professional courses. The study also found that students in Comprehensive Universities have the lowest willingness to participate in anti-drug propaganda. When young students at different educational stages or disciplines answered “Are they willing to participate in school anti-drug clubs or activities and educate the community or other institutions about the dangers of new drugs?”, the average values of each group were 4.410 in junior high school, 0.010 in high school, 3.714 in comprehensive universities, 4.375 in police universities, 4.393 in medical universities, and 3.975 in normal universities. The p-value of the variance analysis result is 0.000**, and there is a significant difference ([16]).

The sources of information about NPS may affect young people’s enthusiasm for learning about NPS, thereby affecting their cognition and attitudes toward NPS. The survey results of Zhang Li et al. ([23]). show that middle school students mainly obtain drug knowledge through anti-drug lectures. This is similar to the survey results of Sang Ruijiao et al. ([16]). 77.8% of adolescents learned about NPS through school education, but 86.9% of adolescents said they were more willing to receive anti-drug education in film and television works.

Adolescents generally exhibit inadequate NPS, and traditional anti-drug education focuses on one-way indoctrination of knowledge, which is difficult to translate into effective drug refusal behavior and can easily lead to adolescents’ rebellious psychology. The theory of cognitive plasticity points out that the adolescent brain is in a critical period of development and is highly dependent on experience. This neurobiological characteristic provides a scientific basis for the implementation of experiential intervention ([15]).

3.1.1. Embodied Cognitive Intervention

Misconceptions such as “NPS are less harmful” and “not addictive” are common among Chinese adolescents. This is because the harm warnings remain at the level of abstract concepts and lack the support of embodied experience. According to the theory of embodied cognition, when adolescents experience the physical and psychological damage of drugs from a first-person perspective, abstract harm warnings are transformed into profound embodied experience memories, which can achieve a breakthrough in the traditional teaching model. In view of the fact that adolescents have cognitive blind spots regarding the harm of NPS and their overall awareness of NPS is low. The Ministry of Education of Western Australia, Australia, has launched a VR project that allows students to wear glasses and experience immersively how drugs damage the brain. Jiangsu Taihu pioneered “cloud” immersive interactive teaching, using VR equipment to simulate physiological and psychological reactions such as severe pain in the limbs, cognitive impairment, and auditory hallucinations after drug abuse, allowing teenagers to intuitively experience the harm of drugs in a virtual situation ([26]).

VR intervention improves adolescents’ attitudes, knowledge, and ability to refuse addictive substances by providing an immersive learning experience ([5]). Embodied experience can make up for the shortcomings of traditional preaching in terms of hazard awareness and reshape young people’s cognitive and behavioral responses.

3.1.2. Tangible Substance Identification Training

NPS often appear in the form of daily consumer products such as “milk tea powder,” “popping candy,” and “top e-cigarettes”, which are extremely concealed and confusing. In order to solve the problem of Chinese adolescents’ insufficient understanding of the disguised forms of drugs, situational cognition theory can be used. The Australian Positive Choices platform collects pictures of the appearance of various drugs to facilitate schools to use them in identification teaching. Police from Yixing Drug Rehabilitation Center in Jiangsu Province visited middle schools and focused on new drug disguises, focusing on explaining disguise forms such as “laughing gas” and “etomidate-containing e-cigarettes” ([25]). This kind of materialized training achieves effective transfer of knowledge from the classroom to real life by transforming abstract risk warnings into practically usable skills. Its essence is to internalize the alertness of young people into subconscious reactions through repeated practice in multiple situations, so that when they face potential drug-related risks, they can instantly awaken their defensive instincts without logical deduction.

Currently, adolescents are highly dependent on social media, but the relevant information on the Internet is fragmented and entertainment-oriented, which has a significant impact on cognitive accuracy. Research shows that adolescents who are frequently exposed to social media marijuana content have a significantly increased risk of using e-cigarettes, marijuana, or dual use one year later ([18]). A French study confirmed that posting popular science content about NPS on Instagram can significantly increase adolescents’ awareness of the dangers of such substances ([22]). Aiming at the current situation of how information sources influence Chinese adolescents’ understanding of NPS anti-drug science popularization should not be limited to the centralized push of the International Anti-Drug Day or the one-way communication of traditional media, but should maintain a continuous presence on the new media platforms that young people come into contact with on a daily basis. We should adhere to the combination of normalized push and hierarchical delivery, focusing on identification skills, legal education, and cutting-edge knowledge for junior high school students, high school students, and college students, respectively, to achieve an accurate alignment of science popularization materials with the cognitive level of target audiences and ensure that authoritative information continues to be integrated into the adolescents information environment. With the help of platforms such as Douyin and Bilibili, public education is regularly released in the form of short videos, micro-movies, etc., breaking through time constraints and achieving regular dissemination. Anti-drug science popularization released by self-media platforms has the advantages of diverse subjects, diverse perspectives, and wide coverage, and is especially suitable for young school students ([16]). In the face of the constant changes in NPS, it is necessary to establish a linkage mechanism for scientific research, monitoring, and publicity. Once a new psychoactive substance is discovered, it can be quickly transformed into popular science information so that adolescents can receive authoritative warnings as early as possible.

In response to the problem of Chinese teenagers’ vague understanding of the legal attributes and illegal consequences of new drugs, the causes include insufficient legal education in schools, weak family guardianship capabilities, and limited community publicity coverage. In order to improve young people’s awareness of drugs, schools, families, and communities need to work together. As the central nexus connecting teachers, parents, and the community, schools can unite community and health personnel to plan health promotion activities, enhance illicit drug risk awareness, and form a joint effort in educating people inside and outside the school ([4]). Research by Liu Haiyan et al. ([11]) also pointed out that schools need to combine anti-drug education with moral education and safety education and incorporate it into daily education work to enhance students’ awareness and ability to “recognize, prevent and reject drugs.” The family is usually a child’s first educational environment and determines most of the process of adolescents’ growth and education. Parents are an indispensable core element in any adolescent psychotropic substance use prevention program ([10]). However, currently, parents generally face the dilemma of lagging in their knowledge of NPS and insufficient parent-child communication skills. In order to incorporate anti-drug education into the family education system, Yuxi City has incorporated anti-drug knowledge into compulsory courses for parents in schools and has carried out activities such as “Little Hands Holding Big Hands.” The awareness rate of parents’ anti-drug knowledge has reached 95%, and the family has been promoted to become the “second classroom” for anti-drug education ([26]). The community connects thousands of households and is a platform that connects schools and families. Research has shown that there is a significant positive correlation between community participation and adolescents’ risk perception, indicating that intervention in the community environment can effectively enhance adolescents’ cognitive ability of drug risks ([1]). This conclusion has also been confirmed in the Chinese context. Many places in the country have formed a closed loop of “school + family + community” anti-drug education.