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HEALTH
Formed in 1984, the School Talks Team in the Narcotics Division continued to give drug addiction talks to students aged between 12 and 15 at secondary schools throughout the territory. During the year a total of 44 625 students in 85 schools attended the talks.
A revised secondary school drug education teaching kit which provides topical teaching materials for Form 1 to Form 5 on the drug problem and prevention of drug abuse in Hong Kong was issued to all secondary schools in October. The revised kit replaced the previous one which had been in use since 1978.
For the sixth year, the Youth Against Drugs Scheme provided encouragement and financial support to young people who wished to participate directly in the planning and implementation of anti-narcotics projects. The scheme helped 17 groups of young people to implement 19 anti-narcotics promotional activities. The 60-strong member ACAN Youth Volunteer Group, established in 1981 with a view to training and encouraging young volunteers to play an active part in anti-narcotics work, participated in the territory- wide and district campaigns and organised various community involvement activities.
The Narcotics Division also organised seminars for outreach social workers and school administrators for the purpose of giving them a better understanding of the drug problem and enlisting their active support in the fight against drugs. Moreover, talks, film shows and visits were organised for Mutual Aid Committees and parent groups.
To support these activities and to publicise the anti-narcotics message, television and radio announcements of public interest, films, posters, leaflets as well as an anti-narcotics theme song were produced. The appeal through TV for information on neighbourhood drug peddling activities was particularly successful.
During the year, the ACAN Drug Abuse Telephone Enquiry Service received 1 619 enquiries from both addicts and non-addicts. Most enquiries were related to drug addiction treatment facilities.
In 1986, there were some indications of an increase in the abuse of certain non-opiate psychotropic substances. While the abuse of these drugs is at present not as serious a social problem as heroin addiction, the situation is being carefully monitored by ACAN and steps are to be taken to increase public awareness of the dangers of such drugs, the controls which exist over them and the penalties for their misuse.
The government's determination to tackle the drug problem from all acceptable angles is evident in a consultation document on the Hong Kong triad problem which includes proposals to deprive convicted drug traffickers of their ill-gotten gains.
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, Interpol and the Customs Co-operation Council - and with the governments of countries in Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. Hong Kong took part in 20 regional and international meetings and seminars concerned with anti-drug law enforcement, treatment and rehabilitation, and preventive education. Hong Kong also made its 12th annual contribution of $100,000 to the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control in support of its world-wide anti- narcotics efforts, which include the opium poppy crop-substitution programme in the 'Golden Triangle' on the borders of Burma, Laos and Thailand, the source of most of Hong Kong's opiate drugs.
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 overseas. During the year, 182 anti-narcotics officers from various countries came to Hong Kong on study