The Chinese capital of Beijing offered a special anti-drugs training program to 1,200 owners and managers of entertainment venues in the city on Tuesday, the Public Security Bureau announced.

 

All the owners and managers of the city’s entertainment venues are required to participate in the program in the coming 15 days, said Chen Qiang, director of the anti-drug department of the Beijing Public Security Bureau. The initiative is designed to ensure that the entertainment venues and public areas would be drug free and create a good environment for a safe 2008 Olympic Games, he said.

 

The police will help the owners and managers of venues better understand the effects of drugs and discuss with them how to recognize cocaine and the newer substances such as methamphetamine and ecstasy.  

 

Chen said more people were involved in the newer drugs in the city although they’d little knowledge of the harm they were doing to themselves. Over 270 users of these drugs had been arrested between January and August this year, he added.

 

The business of entertainment venues would be suspended for three to six months if drugs were found in them, according to the bureau. Beijing has around 20,000 registered drug users.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2006)