China will intensify its crackdown on drugs in cities that will host Olympics events, a top anti-drug official told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday.

The effort is intended to ensure a "drug-free" Olympics, Yang Fengrui, deputy secretary-general of the China National Narcotics Control Commission and director of the Bureau of Narcotics Control under the Ministry of Public Security, told a press conference.

Yang said that authorities will start a campaign to find drugs being smuggled into China and interrupt drug trade routes, especially to the Olympic cities.

According to Yang, China has cracked 144,000 drug-related cases, involving 174,000 people, and seized 17.5 tons of heroin, 19.7 tons of "ice" and 5 million Ecstasy tablets in the past three years. In Yunnan Province alone, 12.9 tons of heroin and 9.3 tons of "ice" from the Golden Triangle were seized.

Authorities will also work to wipe out drug use at cultural and entertainment venues and raise public awareness of the hazards of drug use, Yang said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2008)