Close on the heels of rumours about the involvement of Bollywood personalities in a high-profile cocaine case, two leading actors have expressed concern over the growing drug addiction in the country.

Participating in a panel discussion here last night, Rahul Bose and John Abraham stressed that drug was no solution for achieving success.

John, who has made name for himself as a model and now as an actor, said ''I do not drink. I rarely visit pubs. But I have heard that drugs like cocaine are available across the counter in pubs. This should be stopped.'' Rahul, who was articulate and came with intelligent answers on most of the issues during the discussion in which Indian motorsports ace Narain Karthikeyan was the third participant, said cocaine could not match hard work.

Both the actors stressed that youngsters should complete their studies first and work hard to climb up the ladder. There was no short cut for success and only hard work would pay result, they added.

Mumbai Police had recently arrested Provogue Managing Director Salil Chaturvedi in connection with the cocaine case. Many Bollywood personalities names are making rounds in the case.

Besides being a well known theatre personality, Rahul is a keen rugby player. He described the game as poetry and said it helped him develop team spirit. ''You need to have team spirit. Otherwise, you will not succeed in the game,'' he added.

John, who loves to zip fast on motorbikes, said he would be present at the pits in a race in Czech Republic on August 28 as part of the Yamaha team. ''I will be leaving on August 26,'' he added.