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Meredith Chen

China’s strict drug laws have led to a senior executive from German car giant Volkswagen being kicked out of the country soon after returning from a holiday in Thailand.
The foreign ministry has confirmed that Jochen Sengpiehl, VW’s chief marketing officer and head of product strategy for China, had tested positive for cocaine and been detained for 10 days before his expulsion.
Media reports have said he also tested positive for cannabis, which is legal in Thailand although cocaine is not.
The case serves as a reminder of Beijing’s “zero-tolerance” approach to drugs, and the risk that foreigners can be detained for drug use outside the country. Here is how the law operates.
Can travellers be tested when entering the country?
Yes. Random drugs tests may be carried out on flights from places where cannabis and other drugs have been decriminalised, with students and foreigners likely to be targeted.
In these cases a sample of urine or hair is usually taken. Traces of drugs only remain in the urine for a short period, around three days, but can stay in the hair for months.
Warnings posted by Chinese embassies in countries that have decriminalised cannabis – including Thailand, Canada and the Netherlands – say that someone who tests positive on arrival will be treated “the same as if they used drugs domestically”.
China has been targeting travellers arriving from Thailand since cannabis was decriminalised in the country in 2022, a law the country’s government is now considering reversing.
Why do police target foreigners even if they did not use drugs in China?
The authorities argue that it does not matter where the drugs were taken. They say having drugs inside your system is illegal in China so they have jurisdiction.
In practice the penalties are often imposed on the basis of a positive test “regardless of whether there is evidence of drug use or jurisdictional authority”, Yu Siming, a lawyer formerly working at Shanghai law firm MHP wrote.
What are the penalties?
Travellers who fail drugs tests face the same penalties they would if they had been caught using drugs inside China. This can mean 10 to 15 days’ administrative detention – something the police have the power to impose without a trial – and a fine of up to 2,000 yuan (US$280).
For less serious cases, a penalty of up to five days’ detention or a fine of up to 500 yuan may be imposed.


However, if someone is caught with even small quantities of cannabis in their luggage it will be treated as smuggling, which can lead to criminal charges and a trial. Even those caught with small amounts could face up to three years in jail.
Foreigners are also to face a significant risk of being ordered to leave the country within a specific period or face deportation, something the authorities have become stricter about enforcing, according to a 2019 article by Yu.
In one of the most high-profile cases in recent years, 16 foreign teachers and students in the eastern city of Xuzhou were detained for drug use in 2019. A number of them are known to have been deported and all teachers involved lost their jobs.
Foreigners who are deported are banned from re-entering the country for 10 years.


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Drugs

Why does China punish foreigners for taking drugs in other places (even where it’s legal)?

VW executive Jochen Sengpiehl has been forced to leave China. Photo: Getty Images

German VW executive Jochen Sengpiehl expelled from China over positive drug test

A Volkswagen logo is seen at a motor show in Paris on October 16, 2024. Photo: AFP

Thailand U-turns on cannabis, again, to legislate medical use, not re-criminalise the plant

Photo: EPA-EFE

‘Make space in the prisons’: Thailand’s cannabis entrepreneurs defiant as relisting looms

A marijuana enthusiast writes on a sign with a big message reading “Don’t take marijuana back to being a drug”, as they attend a demonstration over government’s plan to recriminalise cannabis, outside the UN Building in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 28.  Photo: EPA-EFE

A worker takes cuttings from mother marijuana plants to be transplanted inside a cloning room at a cannabis cultivation facility in Samut Prakan, Thailand, on May 30. Photo: Bloomberg

Marijuana enthusiasts hold placards against relisting cannabis as a narcotic, outside the UN Building in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 28. Photo: EPA-EFE

A worker tends to marijuana plants inside an indoor greenhouse at a cannabis cultivation facility in Samut Prakan, Thailand, in May. Photo: Bloomberg

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A senior Volkswagen executive was detained and expelled from the country after returning from a trip to Thailand, where cannabis is legal


A senior Volkswagen executive was detained and expelled from the country after returning from a trip to Thailand, where cannabis is legal.
