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Number of drug abusers remains stable for 1996
The Chairman of the Action Committee Against Narcotics (ACAN), Professor Chen Char-nie today (Monday) announced that the size of Hong Kong drug abusers population has remained relatively stable over the past two years.
Professor Chen said: "In 1996, a total of 19,626 drug abusers of all ages were reported to the Central Registry of Drug Abuse, representing an increase of 1.5 per cent when compared with 19,343 reported in 1995.
"The 1996 figure represented a decrease of 3.4 per cent when compared with 20,327 in 1994.
"The proportion of Hong Kong people involved in drug abuse also remained relatively small, which is around 3.5 per thousand population.
"The 1996 figures showed that for drug abusers of all ages, the most commonly abused drugs were heroin (86.6 per cent), cannabis (8.4 per cent), cough medicine (3.0 per cent), triazolam (2.9 per cent) and methylamphetamine or 'ice' (2.8 per cent)."
The number of drug abusers reported to have abused psychotropic substances increased by 28.3% in 1996 as compared with the corresponding figure in 1995, rising from 2,618 to 3,358.
The 1996 figure represented an increase of 44.2% when compared with 2,328 in 1994.
The upward trend of drug abuse among females observed since 1992 persisted in 1996. The reported figure in 1996 was 2,417, representing an increase of 4.1% as compared with 2,321 in 1995.
Taking into account the up-trend in the number of psychotropic substance abusers and the importance of family support to steer young persons away from drugs, the Preventive Education and Publicity Sub-committee decided that the anti-drug abuse themes in the coming year should include:
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to educate young persons that there is no difference between 'hard' and 'soft' drugs in terms of harmful effects, and to better equip them with refusal skills;