Rampant celebrity drug use pushes agencies to sign anti-drug agreement

In response to a number of drug scandals involving stars being exposed to the public, 42 agencies have signed an anti-drug commitment letter with the Beijing Police Wednesday, promising that they will not employ stars that take drugs, organize performances for them, or use a star's drug use as a stunt to create hype.

Since the beginning of 2014, drug use among celebrities has increasingly become a hot topic in entertainment circles in China: Singer Li Daimo was caught taking drugs with friends this March; in July, director Zhang Yuan and scriptwriter Ning Caishen (real name Chen Wanning) were arrested for drug use; a month later, Hong Kong actor Roy Cheung, and earlier this month, mainland actor Gao Hu, were also arrested on drug related charges.

"Even though [they] quit in the end, the experience of having taken drugs still has bad social influence. Therefore we will not promote [such stars]," said Jin Jianqiang, vice general manager of the Beijing Shiji Performance Company.

Jin Zhihai, vice director of the Beijing Municipal Anti-Drug Office, noted that as public figures, stars need to provide good examples for juveniles and society.

He added that the office would cooperate with related departments to further manage stars' behavior.