Chinese teens are turning to mind-numbing drugs to 'run away from reality'

2026, August 25

China

This is a deeply worrying report, because it suggests that the issue is not simply recreational drug use, but some teenagers using prescription medicines as a way to escape overwhelming pressure and emotional distress.

The BBC spoke with dozens of Chinese teenagers in online chat groups who described taking excessive amounts of prescription medicines to experience numbness, dizziness or a so-called “pharmaceutical high.” Some drugs were obtained online without being prescribed to the teenagers involved.

According to the report:

Academic and exam pressure is a major factor.

Some students spend nine or 10 hours a day in school.

Teenagers described intense fear of failure and being pushed out of elite classes if their grades dropped.

Authorities have tightened controls on certain medicines, but teenagers reportedly move on to alternative substances when one becomes harder to obtain.

China's authorities have acknowledged increasing misuse of prescription drugs, particularly among minors.

The bigger problem: pressure, not just drugs

What struck me most is the phrase 'run away from reality.' The drugs appear to be a symptom of something bigger: extreme educational competition, family expectations, loneliness and anxiety about the future.

The report also notes that China's economic uncertainty has added another layer of anxiety. For previous generations, the formula may have seemed straightforward: work hard → get good grades → get a good job. For many young people today, that outcome no longer feels guaranteed.

China is responding, but there are gaps

China has expanded mental-health support in schools and aims to build a nationwide psychological support and crisis-intervention system by 2030. The BBC reports that counselling provision in schools has increased substantially, but there remains a serious shortage of specialists in child and adolescent psychiatry.

In short: this looks less like a conventional drug epidemic and more like a warning sign of a wider youth mental-health and pressure crisis. Restricting access to individual drugs may help, but, as the report suggests, simply blocking one substance can become a game of whack-a-mole if the underlying reasons teenagers want to numb themselves remain unaddressed.