CONFIDENTIAL # 2
機密
- 2 -
The Central Registry regularly receives reports on drug addicts from various reporting agencies as well as from the Police and the Prisons Department. Such reporting agencies include Government and private bodies which are fully or partly engaged in the care, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts and which have agreed to supply required information on drug addicts to the Central Registry.
Reasons for the Proposal
4.
The need for confidentiality for personal information kept in the Central Registry arises because drug addiction is regarded as a social stigma. Most addicts would not like to be identified, much less so to be recorded in a Government register. Confidentiality was promised when methadone treatment was first introduced and it is a continuing necessity to inspire confidence in the addicts, especially those who have previously committed crimes, and to encourage them to come forward for treatment, which is the first step to getting them out of criminal involvement. If anonymity is not maintained, addicts may be discouraged from seeking treatment, thus thwarting the effectiveness of the existing voluntary treatment programmes (e.g. the methadone treatment programme). In addition, the reliability of information provided by the addicts may be affected. This would defeat the whole purpose of setting up the Central Registry.
5.
The success of the Central Registry also depends on the willingness of reporting agencies to co-operate by sending in timely and accurate reports. The majority of such agencies have indicated that their co-operation will continue only if the Registry is able to ensure the integrity of individual information kept. There is no legal obligation on the part of reporting agencies to send in such reports and so the confidence of these agencies in the Central Registry is vital to its success.
16.
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G.S. 166
CONFIDENTIAL ##