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The Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, has called on young people to learn the truth about drug abuse, and discard any misconceptions to avoid being led astray.
Addressing the prize presentation ceremony of the Anti-drug Short Film Competition 2008 tonight (May 20), Mr Lee said: ¡§The trend of youth drug abuse is getting more and more serious, which has aroused concerns among different sectors of society.¡¨
¡§From 2004 to 2008, the number of reported young drug abusers under the age of 21 increased by 57%. The average age of first abuse of all the young drug abusers reported has dropped to 15. Among the cases in our Central Registry of Drug Abuse, the youngest drug abuser is only 11.¡¨
¡§Many of the young drug abusers we have known of did not admit that they were simply frustrated ¡¥junkies¡¦. They excused themselves by saying that they were just ¡¥taking medications¡¦. They thought that as long as they could take drugs such as ketamine and ice safely, these drugs could bring them happiness.¡¨
Mr Lee pointed out that these misconceptions about drug abuse, if not corrected, could easily spread among young people.
He said,¡§An integral part of the Government¡¦s anti-drug strategy is to collaborate with different sectors of the community to promote various preventive education and publicity activities revealing to youth the truth of drug abuse so they can make a smart choice. We want to fight alongside them the subculture of treating drugs lightly.¡¨
The Anti-drug Short Film Competition 2008 is one of the major initiatives under the Territory-wide Campaign Against Youth Drug Abuse. It is jointly organised by the Narcotics Division of Security Bureau, the Action Committee Against Narcotics (ACAN), Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), the Efficiency Unit and co-organised by the Hong Kong Film Directors¡¦ Guild (HKFDG) and the Hong Kong Screenwriters¡¦ Guild (HKSG). The organisers have made use of the platform of youth.gov.hk to reach out to a large section of youth.
Mr Lee thanked all the parties involved in organising the competition. He believed that the participants had acquired more anti-drug knowledge through taking part. They would understand the far-reaching dire consequences of abusing psychotropic substances. He hoped that all participants could apply what they had learnt and help spread anti-drug messages among their friends.
The Anti-drug Short Film Competition 2008 comprised the open group and secondary school divisions. Ten finalists for each division contended for the champion, first runner-up, second runner-up, best short film, best script, best cinematography. ¡§My Favourite Short Film Award¡¨ was voted for online.
Results of the competition were announced at the ceremony. ¡§Irretrievable¡¨, presented by the team ¡§the Panda¡¨, was open group division champion and ¡§A Promise of the Ring¡¨, presented by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Lee Ching Dea Memorial College, was secondary school division champion. The Best Short Film Award also went to ¡§A Promise of the Ring¡¨ presented by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Lee Ching Dea Memorial School.
Mr Lee was happy to see participants playing the roles of director, scriptwriter or actor. Using the perspective and language of the youth, they were able to depict through real-life stories the harm that drug abuse might bring to individuals, friends, families, schools and society. Mr Lee commended the participants for taking the production seriously and for their creativity, making their works good material for anti-drug education.
Members of the judging panel were Head of Efficiency Unit, Ms Kitty Choi; Chairman of the ACAN Sub-committee on Preventive Education and Publicity, Ms Scarlett Pong; Head of RTHK Radio 2, Mr Clarence Yang; representative of HKFDG, Mr Bi Kenneth and representative of HKSG, Mr Lam Chiu-wing.
Mr Lee hoped that different sectors of the community, including professionals in the performance industry, would continue to foster a youth caring culture through various ways, provide development opportunities for the youth, widen their horizons and work with them on the right track.
Ends/Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Issued at HKT 20:57
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