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23
Wednesday, October 16, 1974
I am sure that this is exactly what we can expect from Sir
Ronald Holmes and his working party.
Narcotic Addiction
I mentioned last year the formation of the Medical
and Health Department's new division to develop and co-
ordinate programmes for the treatment and rehabilitation of
drug addicts.
Two pilot methadone
substitution projects are being
3.
conducted by the Medical Department and the Discharged Prisoners'
Aid Society. Both have been operating for almost two years and
they are to continue for a further year. The rather encouraging
results obtained so far have been carefully checked and
compared with what is being done in other parts of the world.
One of the world's foremost experts in this form of
drug treatment will arrive in Hong Kong towards the end of the
year to help us further to evaluate these two pilot projects and to plot the way ahead for this form of therapy and igs
proper relationship to other forms of drug treatment.
As I see it, our objective must be to couple the most
vigorous and ruthless attack on the means of supply of drugs
with provision of a means of treatment that can be made available
en masse to addicts. Nothing but frustration can result from
denial of the drug without offering treatment, or from offering treat- ment without denying the drug, or at least making it so scarce as
to be prohibitively expensive. You will have noted the growing
success of the attack on supply of drugs that results both from
improved methods here and also improved liaison abroad. But
*
/the means