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Governor's opening statement at second Summit on Drugs
Following is a transcript of the Governor's opening statement at the 2nd Summit on Drugs today (Thursday):
It doesn't seem a year since the last one but I think that is increasingly the way the years roll past as one gets older. It is good to see so many familiar faces, and I think there are some new faces here as well.
We are all brought here by a common aim: to tackle and beat the problem of drugs in Hong Kong. And we can do it. Unlike a number of other cities round the world, we are fortunate that the drugs problem here is not out of control. It is serious. I stress that point. But it is not beyond our grasp and if we work at it together, I think we can beat it.
As last year, we have here at this meeting representatives of many parts of our community: members of the Legislative Council, District Boards, District Fight Crime Committees, voluntary agencies,
agencies, educators, social workers, parents, government officials, people whose work in one way or another brings them into contact with young people and with the problem of illicit drugs. I want to thank you all for taking the time and the trouble to come. Fighting drugs needs the support of all of you, and it needs the support as well of all the people that you represent.
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Last year we had a fruitful and a constructive discussion. At the meeting, I announced the Government's 26-point Forward Action Plan to beat drugs. And to follow up the proposals put forward at that meeting, we drew up largely as a result of the comments and recommendations that you made - we drew up another 42 initiatives on the advice of ACAN. Altogether these add up to 68 items. The Government and concerned organisations have been vigorously carrying out this comprehensive programme of action over the past year.
Of these 68 initiatives, we have completed 46, about two-thirds of the total. We are on schedule and making progress on 11. And we are pressing ahead with another 11 which are on-going commitments. Just to remind ourselves of a few of the areas where we have made progress:
we have strengthened our legislation and increased our manpower and capability to suppress the illicit supply of drugs:
we have stepped up our training for teachers, our resource support to schools, and our advice to parents;