北京迷笛学校16名学生涉毒

Sixteen students from the Beijing Midi School of Music have been busted for drug use after police launched a surprise raid at the school.

Authorities swooped into the Midi dorms on Tuesday, detaining suspects ranging in age from 17 to 29 after their urine tested positive for marijuana.

All are guitar majors at the acclaimed music school, which is the first in China to focus exclusively on teaching modern music.

The bust has created a buzz around the liberal arts campus.

"They are young and think it's cool and awesome. Maybe they believe the old theories that smoking marijuana can bring inspiration to the music they create. But they need to understand its illegal. You just can't take drugs because you want to."

"This group doesn't represent all of us. Most of us are here to realize our dreams. We came here to study hard."

This isn't the first time Midi has been linked with drug use.

Police in Beijing's Univeristy District in Haidian busted another group of students for drugs at the Midi dorms back in May after being tipped-off.

The latest stats on drug use in China suggests drug use is becoming increasingly prevelant among young people in China.

Stats from last year show that of the 480-thousand newly identified drug users in China 29-thousand were under the age of 18.

Around three-quarters of all known drug users in China are believed to be under the age of 35.

Curiosity, as well as family issues and peer-pressure are cited as the main factors behind drug use among young people in China.

Zhang Li with the People's Public Security University of China says is because of this, more attention needs to be focused on convincing young people not to start down a path toward drugs.

"Most students at a young age don't fully comprehend adult life. Their judgement centers aren't fully formed, which means they can have a difficult time telling right from wrong, and can lack the ability to control their behavior.
They're often also inexperienced when it comes to making friends."

Professor Zhang Li says changes in modern society are also playing a factor in the rise of younger Chinese drug users.

"The spread of drugs has been accelerating with the rise of social communication through the internet, as teenagers today have way more access to information about what people older then them are doing. This can make them more prone to drug use than others."

The professor also suggests the smoking and drug-related bans at schools in China aren't working as they should.

To change this, he suggests schools should be finding new ways to stop young people from experimenting with drugs, including tougher rules and harsher penalties for those caught if deterrence isn't working.

The Midi School of Music has since issued a public apology for this past week's scandal, and is promising to take a more proactive approach toward stamping out drug use at the school.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.