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Prisoners' Aid Society suggests that the number of addicts in the colony
is about 80,000. Judging by the prison population, 60-70% of whom are
found to be addicts, the vice is mainly confined to the middle-aged and
the very poor amongst the immigrant population:
very few adolescents
or young persons appear to be attracted to it. Most studies which have
been made into addiction in the Far East agree that its roots lie in
poverty and the unsatisfactory social conditions of the arca.
Treatment for Addiction
8.
The treatment of addiction poses nany still unsolved problems, not
the least of which is that no casy or certain cure for heroin addiction
has yet been found. Prosent methods require the addict to submit to a
period of complete isolation during the painful "withdrawal" period and
extended supervision and after-care to restore his norale and fit him to
return to normal life. Even where such facilities are available success
is by no means certain, and experience in the U.S. has led nany
authorities there to consider that no more than 5% of heroin addicts can
be cured in any permanent sense by the methods at present availablo.
a community like Hong Kong where narcotics are easily obtainable the
difficulties are increased tremendously.
9.
In
The treatment of voluntary patients for their addiction in Hong Kong
is allowed under the so-called 'British System', i.e. addiction is not
a crine and medical practitioners are allowed to prescribe drugs for the
patients under their carc. No ostinate of the number of patients
undergoing such treatment is available. In 1960 the Government instituted
a pilot scheme at Castle Peak Government Hospital which provided 120 beds
for the treatment of drug addicts willing to submit voluntarily to
continuous confinement during the course of their treatment.
The purpose
of the scheme was to obtain information on the extent to which such
facilities were wanted in Hong Kong and how far they could contribute
to the solution of the problen of addiction in the colony.
The
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/facilities