8003160 G.F. 316
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distribution and consumption at street level.
The exception referred to is in the field of the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts where substantial constructive advances have been made and much valuable experience gained.
6.
How little progress had been made overall towards achieving a solution to the scourge of narcotic drugs in the Colony may be gauged from the fact that per head of the popula- tion, Hong Kong in 1972 has one of the worst problems of opiate drug addiction in the world, if not the worst. The term 'opiate' used in this and other papers in this series refers to opium and its derivatives morphine and heroin. From criminal statistics it is known that the number of drug dependent persons cannot be less than 59,000 in round figures in a population of 4 million, or approximately 1 in 70, the actual figure probably being rather worse. This is a sobering thought.
7.
Since 1959 when the White Paper was written major changes have taken place on the international illicit drug scene. There is hardly a country today which does not have a drug problem to a greater or lesser degree and this is particularly so in America where heroin addiction has increased to such an extent that it is now regarded as a prime social problem. The whole subject of dangerous drugs the opiates, cannabis and the man made synthetics, is surrounded by a welter of constant Press publicity worldwide, some of it contradictory and confusing, but all of it portraying the almost universal nature of this comparatively new phenomenon and the attitudes and concern of Governments and people everywhere about it. This was not the case in 1959. In these circumstances the time is opportune for the Hong Kong Government to review its strategy concerning dangerous drugs with a view to updating it, while as a part of the same exercise examining what is being done both within the Colony and without in furtherance of the suppression of the illicit drug trade and the eradication of drug abuse.
Aim
8.
The aim of this report is to examine all aspects of the illicit drug trade affecting Hong Kong and matters which impinge upon it both external and internal, including the treat- ment and rehabilitation of drug addicts, leading to the formula- tion of a new strategy designed to implement Government's stated policy of interdicting the illicit traffic in narcotic drugs into the Colony and eradicating drug abuse from the community.
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