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The Narcotics Division (ND) of the Security Bureau, the Action Committee Against Narcotics (ACAN), Yahoo! Hong Kong together with the Hongkong Federation of Youth Groups today (June 25) held a sharing session for contestants in an anti-drug cyber heroes design competition.
The competition was launched last month, and guests were today invited to share with young participants their experience in creativity and fighting drugs.
The objective of the competition is to exploit the Internet to disseminate anti-drug messages among young people and to provide them with an opportunity to give full play to their creativity by designing their own anti-drug cyber heroes.
ACAN member, Dr Miro Ng, attended the sharing session. He urged youths to engage in healthy activities during summer holidays, saying they could stay away from drugs by pursuing their hobbies.
Medical officer of Department of Psychiatry of Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Dr Paul Kwok, pointed out that psychotropic substances (e.g. ketamine) abusers might not have any immediate obvious withdrawal symptoms and that the harmful effects caused by drugs might not be recognised immediately. When the symptoms gradually emerged, the damage to the body might have become permanent and irreversible. He called on youths not to try drugs.
A rehabilitated drug abuser, Ah Fai, said peer influence could be huge to young people. Sharing his past experience, he regretted that he had taken drugs in order to seek recognition of his friends. He reminded the young participants that people tempting them to try drugs were not real friends. He was glad that he could rebuild a healthy lifestyle and get back on the right track with the help of social workers and his family members.
Renowned designer Albert Sung, shared with young participants his experience in creativity. He told the youths attending the session that his inspiration of design came from setbacks coming one after the other. Despite the setbacks, he had not given up but concentrated on his design work. He exploited his potential which gave him incredible results in return. He encouraged youths not to give up when encountering difficulties, nor to take drugs to evade their discontent. They should release their emotions in suitable ways, face their difficulties and seek help when in distress.
People interested in the competition or who have enquiries, please visit the competition website (www.mural.com.hk).
The design competition, which runs for a year, has a school category and an open category. There will be three phases in the competition. The design theme of each phase is "Anti-drug heroes", "Apparel of the Anti-drug heroes" and "Weapons to combat drugs of the Anti-drug heroes". Besides submitting the artwork, participants also have to describe the ideas behind their designs in words. They can upload their design onto the competition website or use the art tools on the website to design their work. A designer will incorporate designs with the top votes into a mural containing anti-drug messages. About 120 youngsters will paint the mural.
Ends/Saturday, July 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 17:59
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