HEALTH
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Preventive education and publicity continues to play an increasingly important part in Hong Kong's fight against drug abuse. Work in this area is focused on fostering public awareness of the dangers of drug abuse, promoting community involvement in tackling the problem, and persuading young people not to experiment with drugs. In 1981, ACAN spent more than $1.4 million in its largest preventive education and publicity programme to date. The major events included travelling troupe performances, a singing competition and a number of concerts, a mass jogging event, a television variety show and the 'Youth Against Drugs Scheme' campaign which was launched for the first time. There were also training camps and seminars for students, community leaders and social workers, and a series of exhibitions. To support these activities and publicise anti-narcotics messages, television newsclips and dramas, films, posters and leaflets, were produced.
The Drug Education Liaison Centre - set up in July 1980 under the Preventive Education and Publicity Unit organised anti-narcotics training and education for young people, parents, teachers, student nurses, social workers and organisations. The centre also produced a range of anti-drug information in publications, films, video-cassette tapes and slides.
In 1981, the Drug Abuse Telephone Enquiry Service received 1750 enquiries from both addicts and non-addicts. Most enquiries were related to drug addiction treatment facilities.
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Externally, Hong Kong continued to play an active and important part in international anti-narcotics operations by maintaining close links with the United Nations, inter- governmental agencies such as the Colombo Plan Bureau and Interpol and with individual governments in Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. During 1981, Hong Kong took part in 12 international meetings concerned with anti-drug law enforcement, treatment and rehabilitation, and preventive education. Hong Kong also made its seventh annual contribution of $100,000 to the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control in support of its world-wide anti-narcotics efforts. This include the opium poppy crop- substitution programme in the 'Golden Triangle' where the boundaries of Burma, Laos and Thailand meet and from where most of Hong Kong's opiate drugs come.
The techniques and methods employed by Hong Kong in its anti-narcotics work have made it an important venue for training anti-narcotics personnel from other countries. In 1981, 207 anti-narcotics officers from various countries came to Hong Kong on study visits and training courses, either through bilateral arrangements with their governments or under the sponsorship of United Nations bodies such as the World Health Organisation, or the Colombo Plan Bureau.
As a follow-up on the international meeting on 'The role of education in the social re-integration of former drug users' held in Hong Kong in 1980, the United Nations. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) invited Hong Kong to undertake a pilot project to demonstrate the efficacy of including or reinforcing educational elements in the programmes of rehabilitation and social re-integration of former drug users. The project, organised by SARDA and Caritas and co-ordinated by the narcotics division, comprises two parallel schemes with the same objectives but different methodolo- gies which have not been fully tried out in Hong Kong. Funds for the project are provided by the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control. It is expected that the pilot project will be held in early 1982.
Following the success of the World Health Organisation Inter-Regional Training Courses on Treatment and Rehabilitation of Drug Dependent Persons, the WHO invited Hong Kong to organise a third course in October and November. The course provided 23