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It is proposed that the Director of Accounting Services be responsible for the investment of monies in the fund, the payment of grants and the compilation of statements of accounts of the fund. The annual statement of accounts will be audited by the Director of Audit.
The proposal to set up the fund was among the 92 proposals put forward by participants at the Governor's Summit Meeting on Drugs in March this year. The fund is to provide additional resources for non-government agencies and government departments working in the drug-related field and to tackle the growing problem of drug abuse among young people.
At the meeting today, ACAN members also discussed the figures of young drug abusers in the third quarter of 1995 which continued to decline following the previous two quarters.
The number of drug abusers aged under 21 reported to the Government's Central Registry of Drug Abuse (CRDA) decreased by 9.1 per cent to 1.372 in the third quarter this year, as compared to 1,510 in the corresponding period last year.
Of them, 496 were reported to CRDA for the first time. representing a drop of 23.2 per cent from 646 in the third quarter last year. An increase of 1.4 per cent was however noted for previously reported young drug abusers, from 864 in the third quarter last year to 876 in the same period this year.
As for drug abusers of all ages, the third quarter of this year registered a decrease of 11.1 per cent to 7,191 from 8,088 in the same period of 1994. The numbers of newly reported persons and previously reported persons were down by 14.8 per cent (from 1,219 to 1,039) and 10.4 per cent (from 6,869 to 6,152) respectively.
Members noted that the percentage of female drug abusers of all ages increased from 9.4 per cent (762) to 10.6 per cent (763). For those under 21, an increase of 1.6 percentage points from 20 per cent (302) to 21.6 per cent (296) was noted.
On the treatment front, a total of 3.820 persons were admitted to the three main government-funded treatment programmes as compared with the same period last year, of which 993 (or 26.0 per cent) were first-time admissions.
These represented a decrease in total admissions by 14.7 per cent and a decrease in new admissions by 16.6 per cent.