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HEALTH
international co-operation. Law enforcement is the responsibility of the Narcotics Bureau and individual district formations of the Police Force, and the Customs and Excise Department. Treatment and rehabilitation are undertaken by the Medical and Health Department, the Correctional Services Department and a number of voluntary agencies, the largest being the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers (SARDA) which is subvented by the government. Preventive education and publicity rests mainly with the Narcotics Division of the Government Secretariat, the Information Services Department and various government district offices concerned with community building. International co-operation is the responsibility of all.
The work undertaken in each of these four areas is inter-related. Effective law enforce- ment action pushes up the price of illicit drugs and reduces their supply, thus inducing addicts to seek treatment voluntarily. Addicts who wish to rid themselves of their drug habits are offered a wide range of treatment programmes, the effectiveness of which reduces the demand for illicit drugs. At the same time, preventive education and publicity measures are used to dissuade others, especially the young, from experimenting with drugs. Co-operation at the international level enhances the effectiveness of efforts in these three areas through the exchange of information and experience.
All these efforts are co-ordinated by the Action Committee Against Narcotics (ACAN), a non-statutory body comprising a chairman, 10 government officials and 11 members from the community. The committee, formed in 1965 and reconstituted in 1974, is the government's sole advisory body on all anti-narcotics policies and actions, whether internal or external, and whether related to government departments or voluntary agencies. It is serviced by the Narcotics Division, which is headed by the Commissioner for Narcotics.
Legislation and Law Enforcement
The government's determination to eradicate drug trafficking is evident in its decision to adopt measures to attack traffickers' assets. In May, the Executive Council approved a scheme of confiscation orders based on the United Kingdom's Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 as a means to deprive convicted drug traffickers of their ill-gotten and often enormous profits. Drafting of the new legislation and consultation with relevant govern- ment departments and community bodies have been carried out during the second half of this year.
Police and Customs action resulted in 11 320 prosecutions for drug offences in the year. Due to the unrelenting efforts of the enforcement agencies, there was a wide fluctuation in drug prices and purity level. As a result of close liaison between Hong Kong and Chinese government authorities regarding the significant upsurge in the incidence of trafficking in Mandrax tablets from China in 1986, the Chinese government announced stringent control over the production and distribution of methaqualone (Mandrax) in the early part of 1987. During the year, seizures of Mandrax tablets were considerably less than in 1986. However, the amount of cannabis seized was more than six times the total quantity seized in 1986.
Treatment and Rehabilitation
The methadone treatment programme which provides both maintenance and detoxification for out-patients caters for the majority of addicts who volunteer for treatment. Methadone maintenance is a long-term treatment approach intended to prevent an addict's return to illicit heroin or other forms of narcotic abuse, while detoxification is a short-term form of treatment aimed at eliminating the physical dependence on narcotics. As the methadone