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The Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, announced at a press conference today (February 25) the results of the "2008-09 Survey of Drug Use among Students" and the Government's latest measures to combat youth drug abuse. The measures include the proposed $3 billion capital injection into the Beat Drugs Fund announced by the Financial Secretary in his Budget yesterday.
The Survey, conducted by a research organisation, is commissioned by the Narcotics Division of the Security Bureau every four years. It aims to collect the latest trends on student drug abuse in Hong Kong, and seeks to identify the pattern of drug abuse and related characteristics for assessing the risks of student drug abuse. This information will facilitate the Narcotics Division, concerned bureaux and departments to formulate anti-drug policies and measures that will better meet actual needs.
Announcing the results at the press conference, Mr Lee said, "The Survey affirms the trends revealed by the Narcotics Division's Central Registry of Drug Abuse in recent years. It corroborates the increasing prevalence of youth drug abuse."
He said, "According to the Survey, 4.3% of secondary school students indicated that they had abused drugs, representing an increase of one percentage point from the Survey conducted four years ago. Among the secondary school students aged 12 or below, 4.6% indicated that they had abused drugs. This is far higher than that of four years ago, which was 2.4%. The Survey confirms the trend on the lowering of the age of drug abusers."
Mr Lee pointed out that apart from the observations above, there was a rising trend in the number of young people who abused psychotropic substances. Among the primary school students who claimed to have abused drugs, 37.5% abused cough medicine and 30.7% abused inhalants. As regards secondary school students, nearly half of the students who claimed to have abused drugs indicated that they abused ketamine (49.4%), followed by cannabis (35.6%).
Mr Lee said, "The Survey also affirms the hidden nature of youth drug abuse: 36.2% of the secondary school students who claimed to have abused drugs indicated they took drugs in friends' homes, while 25.0% took drugs in their own homes. Only about a quarter of them abused drugs in entertainment venues."
Mr Lee stressed that while the problem was seen to be more serious when compared to the last survey, the degree of Hong Kong's youth drug abuse problem had not reached a totally unbridled stage as witnessed in some advanced economies.
"With the concerted efforts of the different quarters of the community to fight the war against youth drug abuse, the use of innovative technology and introduction of measures to curb the youth drug abuse problem, particularly in schools, we are confident that Hong Kong can foster a drug-free environment for the healthy development of young people," he said.
Mr Lee reiterated that the Government attached great importance to youth drug abuse and was fully committed to combating the problem.
"In the Budget announced yesterday, the Financial Secretary proposed a $3 billion capital injection into the Beat Drugs Fund (BDF). Should the Legislative Council approve the proposal, the new capital injection would substantially increase the capital base of the BDF to $3.35 billion. This will enable the BDF to generate an enhanced level of income and more resources to sponsor anti-drug programmes organised by various quarters of the community. This will bring our anti-drug campaign to a community-wide level," he said.
"In addition, the Financial Secretary has already set aside $52 million additional funding for bureaux and departments to expedite and strengthen anti-drug work along the directions promulgated by the Chief Executive."
Main measures to be rolled out include opening four new Counselling Centres for Psychotropic Substance Abusers; strengthening the manpower of District Youth Outreaching Social Work teams; enhancing the Police School Liaison Scheme; increasing the number of police dogs and relevant police posts; stepping up anti-drug publicity work; promoting community mobilisation programmes and increasing the capacity of youth drug treatment and rehabilitation centres subvented by Department of Health.
Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies will step up their anti-drug operations. He added, "Besides anti-drug publicity and preventive education efforts, the law enforcement agencies will continue to adopt a zero-tolerance attitude towards illicit drugs and drug pushers. They will relentlessly curb the supply of illicit drugs in Hong Kong and work with their counterparts in the Mainland as well as overseas to stop the flow of illicit drugs into Hong Kong.
"The Police will strengthen the collection of intelligence on drug trafficking and drug taking, and enhance the Police School Liaison Scheme. The Customs and Excise Department will enhance drug detection at boundary control points to combat cross-boundary drug trafficking. For greater deterrent effect, the law enforcement agencies will also work closely with the Department of Justice in seeking the courts to pass heavier sentences in appropriate cases."
Mr Lee said that as early as in 2007, the Chief Executive had already been aware of the seriousness of the youth drug abuse problem. He therefore appointed the Secretary for Justice in October that year to lead a high-level interdepartmental task force to tackle the issue. The task force published a report in November 2008 with more than 70 recommendations.
Last year, in view of the further lowering of the age of drug abusers and the hidden nature of youth drug abuse, the Chief Executive decided to personally lead relevant Principal Officials and set out five strategic directions to expedite and strengthen the implementation of the task force's recommendations. The five directions are "community mobilisation", "community support", "drug testing", "treatment" and "law enforcement".
Mr Lee said, "Among them, the Trial Scheme on School Drug Testing in Tai Po District and community mobilisation for combating drug abuse have been taken forward as a response to the increasing hidden nature of youth drug abuse."
Mr Lee reiterated, "The SAR Government is committed to combating youth drug abuse along the five strategic directions promulgated by the Chief Executive. Relevant bureaux and departments, including the Education Bureau, Department of Health and Social Welfare Department, will spare no effort in taking forward measures to minimise the risk of drug abuse by young people and help those who have unfortunately fallen victim to drugs to quit the habit."
The Survey was conducted during the 2008-09 school year. For the first time since its first round more than 20 years ago, the Survey included primary four to six students as well as students of post-secondary programmes. On an anonymous basis, the Survey successfully collected questionnaires from about 158,000 students, covering all post-secondary institutions and some 100 primary and secondary schools, or about 20% of the total student population of Hong Kong. The scale of the Survey is one of the largest compared to similar surveys in other places.
The full survey report is accessible on the Narcotics Division's website (www.nd.gov.hk).
Ends/Thursday, February 25, 2010
Issued at HKT 18:15
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