Photo: screenshot of a web video

Six public officers were fired in Yongshun county, Central China's Hunan Province, after being found to have taken drugs in a county-wide hair follicle drug test among public officers since March, according to Southern Metropolis Daily.

Since March, the local government has been conducting a hair drug test campaign among all its 12,000 public officers in the county which is expected to be completed by the end of April. Once the public officials are found to have taken drugs, he or she will be removed from the post. 

There are 444,900 permanent residents in Yongshun. Yongshun is not the first place in Hunan that has conducted hair drug tests. Other places including Zhuzhou and Yongzhou, have conducted similar tests before. 

Public reports show that the situation regarding public officers in Hunan taking drugs is severe. From 2015 to 2018, more than 400 Party members and public officers in Hunan were found to have taken drugs, according to media estimates. 

The hair drug test is now an effective method to screen for illicit drug use. During the test, a small amount of hair is removed from the head with scissors. Based on the rate of hair growth, drug use can generally be traced back within three to six months compared to conventional methods such as urine analysis and blood tests, and in some cases where people's hair is long, drug use can even be traced back years.

Global Times