No excuse holds water for drug users

BEIJING POLICE have detained 16 students from the Beijing Midi School of Music on suspicion of drug use, after a raid on a dormitory on Tuesday, following a tipoff that marijuana was being used at the school. The school published a letter on Thursday in which it apologized for failing to properly manage students. Beijing Youth Daily urges more efforts to clean up showbiz.

Neither some ill-behaved rock stars' demonstrative effects nor the so-called drug-inspired artistic creation nullifies the misdeeds of the 16 music students. Illegal as it is, taking drugs may not be held criminally accountable unless it is done in a group on campus. In that case, the punishments, according to the Chinese criminal law, can be three years in prison and criminal detention.

Undoubtedly, the Beijing Midi School of Music is responsible for its students' lawbreaking activity, yet what is even more unacceptable is that the headmaster only advocated criticizing and educating the young drug users rather than punishing them. He should have sent a clear message to the public that the university had "zero-tolerance" to drug use and the students deserved to be punished, and he should have announced that the school would embark on introducing stricter rules and regulations to nip such misconduct in the bud.