Lenient treatment of drug-using stars ‘sets bad example for youth’

LETTING celebrities get away with drug crimes is sending out the wrong message to “impressionable” young people, a United Nations report warned yesterday.

The UN drug control agency has for the first time highlighted the damaging influence drug-using celebrities — such as Amy Winehouse, Pete Doherty and Kate Moss in Britain — have on fans.

Without specifically naming anyone, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its annual report that leniency by police and courts towards famous people undermines the criminal justice system.