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Following is a question by the Hon Tam Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, in the Legislative Council today (May 13):
Question:
Regarding the problems of young people abusing drugs and committing drug offences, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of young people arrested for alleged drug abuse or drug offences in each year since 2013, with a breakdown in the Annex 1;
(2) whether the authorities analysed in the past three years the data concerning drug abuse and drug offences committed by young people; if they did, of the details, whether the number of such persons shows an upward trend and whether the ages of such persons show a downward trend; if they did not conduct the analysis, the reasons for that; and
(3) whether the authorities have plans to implement new policies to curb young people abusing drugs and committing drug offences; if they do, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Our replies to the questions raised by the Hon Tam Yiu-chung are as follows:
(1) In the past three years, the arrest figures for drug-related offences are in Annex 2.
The Government does not have other breakdown figures as listed in the Annex 1 in part (1) of the question.
(2) and (3) As noted from the above figures, the number of persons aged below 21 arrested for drug-related offences had been dropping in the past few years. The decline in the number of arrests of drug abusers mirrors the decline in the number of youth drug abuses recorded in the Central Registry of Drug Abuse. This testifies to the effectiveness of the Government's anti-drug strategies as well as the concerted efforts of the Government and the community in fighting drugs. To sustain the momentum and to ride the challenges resulting from the drug problem, including to combat the worsening situation of hidden drug abuse, we will continue our anti-drug efforts along the five-pronged strategy, comprising preventive education and publicity (PE&P), treatment and rehabilitation, legislation and law enforcement, external co-operation and research.
A downward trend in the youth drug abuse situation provides a suitable setting against which to focus on PE&P work and prevent the resurgence of the drug pandemic. We will continue to promote public awareness of the drug problem, facilitate early identification of drug abusers, and further encourage people with drug problems to seek help, for instances, to seek help from social workers through the 24-hour telephone helpline "186 186", and the newly-launched instant messaging service "98 186 186". On the publicity front, apart from placing advertisements, we will explore further partnering opportunities with the printed and electronic media. Taking note of the growing popularity of the new media, we will implement suitable initiatives through popular websites, discussion forums and mobile apps. In addition, we will continue to arrange suitable anti-drug training for teachers and students, and implement on trial preventive interactive anti-drug drama for students. As a school-based PE&P initiative, efforts to progressively roll out the Healthy School Programme with a Drug Testing Component to more secondary schools will continue. We are also planning to conduct an independent evaluation research in the 2015/16 school year to assess the overall effectiveness of the programme and identify areas for improvement.
As to the problem of drug trafficking by young people, we note that many young people involved in these cases have the misguided belief that they are less criminally culpable than adults when involved in drug trafficking activities, and hence were used by drug traffickers. In this connection, we will step up efforts on the PE&P front to dispel the misconception about the legal liability of young people involved in drug trafficking. To deter drug traffickers from exploiting young people for drug trafficking, the Police, the Customs and Excise Department and the Department of Justice will also try to invoke section 56A of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Cap. 134) as far as possible. Under this section, if there is evidence to prove that an adult convicted of a drug-related offence has exploited young people in such activities, the Court may step up the sentence against this adult. In addition, the Police Juvenile Protection Section (JPS) has also increased the number and frequency of home visits to juvenile offenders who are administered a caution for drug offences under the Police Superintendent's Discretion Scheme. To reduce recidivism, the JPS will strengthen their preventive education efforts, with an aim to, amongst others, correcting the misguided belief that juveniles could be relieved from criminal liabilities when involved in drug-related offences.
Ends/Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Issued at HKT 18:20
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