HEALTH
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cent of them are 30 years and over; 32 per cent are in the 20 to 29 age bracket and only three per cent are aged 19 or under.
The report also indicated a marked increase in the proportion of addicts injecting heroin. Although the majority of addicts in Hong Kong still use the fume inhalation method, commonly known as 'chasing the dragon', statistics show that about 32 per cent are using the injection method compared with 14 per cent in 1972 to 1974. The increase is probably due to some addicts trying to get greater mileage out of their limited and expensive supplies.
Typical addicts are males more than 21 in the lower income group, generally employed as unskilled or semi-skilled labourers or factory process workers, with five or less years' education, and living in overcrowded accommodation. They are generally single or, if married, usually separated from their families. The reasons mostly given by addicts experimenting with drugs were the influence of their friends, curiosity and an urge for fun and 'kicks'. Some addicts mentioned their initiation into heroin use as a means to increase sexual ability and pleasure, to relieve fatigue, to mitigate pain caused by certain diseases and to escape from the frustrations of life. On an average, an addict is now spending $30 to $50 a day to maintain his drug- taking habit. This means if 35,000 addicts are each spending $30 a day on drugs, the total sum involved would be about $380 million a year.
Besides the cost of addiction to the addicts themselves, the government at present is spending $158 million a year on the fight against narcotics. Efforts in this field are carried out according to an overall strategy which consists of four main elements law enforcement, treatment and rehabilitation, preventive education and publicity, and international action. These efforts, carried out by various government depart- ments and government-subvented voluntary agencies, are co-ordinated by the Action Committee Against Narcotics (ACAN), a non-statutory body comprising officials from government departments and voluntary agencies and community represent- atives. The committee is serviced by the Narcotics Division of the, Government Secretariat, which is headed by the Commissioner for Narcotics.
In its treatment and rehabilitation of addicts Hong Kong has developed, over the years, a range of programmes.
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The Narcotics and Drugs Administration Division of the Medical and Health Department operates four methadone maintenance centres and 17 methadone detoxification clinics throughout Hong Kong. By the end of the year, a total of 7,721 patients had registered for treatment in both programmes with 5,163 of them still attending, representing an attendance rate of 67 per cent. Although it is rec- ognised that methadone detoxification and methadone maintenance are types of treatment with different objectives the former offers methadone as a substitute for hard drugs and the latter aims at weaning an addict off drugs by gradually reducing the daily dosage - flexibility is exercised between the two programmes. The avail- ability of methadone treatment facilities in convenient locations, coupled with the scarce supply and high price of drugs, has induced many addicts to seek treatment at these centres. It is significant that the methadone programmes now deal with two-and-a-half times more patients than the combined total of other treatment facilities.