More than 70 million Chinese Internet users have followed Monday's news of the drug busts of Jaycee Chan, the son of marital arts superstar Jackie Chan, and Taiwan actor Kai Ko, the latest in a string of celebrities caught in China's narcotics crackdown.
Celebrity drug busts in 2014 | |
August |
Gao Hu, actor, was arrested for using marijuana.More>> |
July |
Zhang Mo, son of famous actor Zhang Guoli, was detained for 13 days in 2012 for using marijuana and was arrested again for using marijuana last month. More>> |
June |
Ning Caishen, whose real name is Chen Wanning, scriptwriter, was detained for 10 days for using methamphetamine. More>> |
May |
Li Daimo, singer, sentenced to 9 months in prison for hosting drug users. More>> |
Jaycee Chan, 32, an actor was detained on Monday for hosting others in smoking marijuana at his home in Beijing's Dongcheng district, the municipal police said on its official micro blog. Chan was reportedly found with more than 100 grams of marijuana.
Kai Ko, 23, also an actor was also arrested for allegedly taking drugs in Dongcheng district, the police said, adding that another two suspects, including the one who sold the drug, have been also detained.
Kai Ko received a 14-day administrative detention, according to the actor's broker company. The young Chan was given a criminal detention, police said.
Movie star Jackie Chan has yet to make a comment about his son's detention.
Sina Weibo has polled public opinion over the frequent cases of celebrities using drugs. The micro-blogging service found more than 64,000 respondents strongly urged celebrities to stop taking drugs, while more than 25,000 people said the pop stars disappointed their fans.
According to current Chinese laws, the use of marijuana is still illegal and people who use it will face punishment just as would for using other drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine, said Li Wenjun, associate professor of drug prohibition studies at the People's Public Security University of China.
Li continued that although marijuana is allowed in some regions and countries, such as the Netherlands and a few states in the United States, governments in those areas never encourage people to use it and regard it as a bad habit.
"Marijuana has addictive substances that are bad to people's health, especially the central nervous system," Li explained.
Cao Yin contributed to the story.