LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS'S VISIT TO HONG KONG:
11-17 JANUARY
BRIEF NO. 26: NARCOTICS
1.
There are estimated to be 80,000–100,000 addicts in Hong Kong. The turnover of the business of opium and its derivatives in Hong Kong is estimated to be about HK$ 1 million a day. In 1972 the Hong Kong Government appointed a Commissioner for Narcotics to deal with the problem. Recommendations by the Narcotics Commissioner for new measures to intensify the drive against drug addiction have been embodied in a White Paper. The Narcotics Bureau in Hong Kong has also been reconstructed and its priorities reassessed. There is close liaison between the Hong Kong Government, the FCO and the Home Office about action in the international field against the illicit traffic in drugs to Hong Kong from the "Golden Triangle" area. Wider cooperation is being fostered through a series of tripartite meetings with the US and Hong Kong. There is also close cooperation with the UN, Interpol and other countries in the region. The posting of a liaison officer from the Hong Kong police to the British Embassy in Bangkok in November 1973, for the purpose of improving the flow of information from those countries which are the source of drugs entering Hong Kong, has proved successful.
2. All this activity is beginning to show results. There have been several recent seizures of large drug consignments and several drug syndicates in Hong Kong have been broken up or disrupted. As a direct result of these operations, drugs are now in short supply in Hong Kong and prices are at their highest levels ever. The Hong Kong Government has plans to increase drug treatment and rehabilitation services. By 1980, they hope to be able to treat about 35,000 addicts a year.
1
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept. 7 January 1975