HEALTH
A wide range of commodities continued to be examined on behalf of the Customs and Excise Department. These included dutiable commodities tested for duty assessment purposes, weighing equipment for compliance with the weights and measures ordinance, suspected forged commodities for identification, and gold and platinum articles for fineness determination. Research is now underway to study the quality of precious stones.
In the realm of environmental protection more litigation-related samples were examined on top of the bulk of samples analysed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Department for the monitoring of air, river and marine waters and sediments for a variety of pollution level indicators. These samples included industrial fuels for sulphur deter- mination, illegal sewage discharges for microbiological tests, and industrial effluents for the determination of toxic and environmentally harmful substances.
Analytical and advisory services in relation to storage, carriage and classification of dangerous goods continued to be provided to the Fire Services Department. Immediate testing of medical gases was carried out to support their safe use in hospitals. In addition, a 24-hour service was provided to render assistance to fire service personnel at scenes of emergency involving hazardous chemicals.
Drug Abuse and Trafficking
The government's policy is to stop the illicit trafficking of drugs into and through Hong Kong, to develop a comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation programme for drug abusers and to dissuade people, particularly young people, from experimenting with drugs, so as to eradicate drug abuse from the community.
The exact number of drug abusers is not known. However, the government's computerised Central Registry of Drug Abuse and other linked indicators suggest that at the end of 1992 there were about 38 000 ‘active' drug abusers, which was 0.8 per cent of the population aged 11 and above.
Data collected by the registry, based on 498 000 reports on 70 000 persons, indicate that 90 per cent of drug abusers are male and 10 per cent female. Sixty seven per cent of the 'active' abusers were over 30-years-old at the end of 1992, 25 per cent were in the 21 to 30 bracket and 8 per cent were aged under 21. The most common drug of abuse is heroin, which was used by 93 per cent of the persons reported to the registry in 1992. In the case of young persons below the age of 21, the common drugs of abuse included heroin, cough medicines and cannabis.
A total of 2 500 drug abusers came to the notice of the registry for the first time in 1992. Of the new cases, 85 per cent were male and 15 per cent were female. Most of them, or 70 per cent, were within the age bracket of 16 to 30. The drugs reported to be commonly abused by these new cases were again heroin, cough medicines and cannabis.
Overall Strategy and Co-ordination
The government has a comprehensive anti-drug programme which has achieved considerable success. The programme adopts a four-pronged approach, namely law enforcement, treatment and rehabilitation, preventive education and publicity and international co-operation. Effective law enforcement induces abusers to seek treatment voluntarily as a result of short supply of drugs. Treatment and rehabilitation are undertaken by government and a number of voluntary agencies which offer a wide range of facilities to meet the different needs of drug abusers from varying backgrounds. The
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