Transcript of Governor's question & answer session in LegCo
The following is a transcript of the question-and-answer session by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, in the Legislative Council meeting today (Thursday):
Mr Allen Lee (through interpreter); Now in March this year there was a summit convened by him on drugs. Now up to the present moment what measures have been taken to combat the issue of drugs? In housing estates I observed a scattering of syringes and in the housing estates youngsters sometimes inhale thinners. I don't see concrete action being taken. Now in the community I think we would like to know what concrete measures will be taken by the Government.
Governor: I'm grateful to the Honourable gentleman for that question. He'll recall that at the summit that I called in March, we set out at the end of discussion an action programme for the Government and we have just reported on the first quarter of implementation of that programme. It covered a number of issues from preventive education and law enforcement to the importance of more research and the importance of enhancing the work of rehabilitation and treatment, which we do in the community. But in addition we also followed-up the over 40 points that were raised by those who attended the summit and we've just given our reaction to those points and to ACAM's comments on them and we'll continuing to report quarterly to all those who attended our summit, and to the community as a whole, on the measures which the Government is taking to implement both our original action programme and the ideas that were put forward at the summit.
Perhaps I can say two additional things. First of all the reason and the Honourable Member has alluded to this, the reason for us giving this programme such priority was the alarming rise in figures of drug abuse, particularly as far as the under 21's are concerned. In the period from 1989 to 1994 the percentage increase of drug abusers in that age group was over 229%. I'm pleased that the latest figures that we've had show for the first time a fall in the number of newly reported drug abusers.
The first quarter figures for this year compared with the first quarter last year show a drop of just under 30% but that is not a reason for complacency. It may prove as we get more figures during the year that that was a blip rather than the beginning of a new trend. So I don't think there is any reason at all for us to stop giving these programmes the support and attention which they deserve.