XN000022-1973-10-17 — Page 11

Wednesday, October 17, 1973

Sir Albert Rodrigues, the present chairman of ACAN, would continue

to preside over the re-constituted committee, the Governor said, as Sir Albert's unparalleled experience, devotion and authority in this field clearly made him the man for the job.

The Commissioner for Narcotics will be a member of the committee and he and his staff will form the committee's executive arm and provide it with the administrative muscle it has so far lacked.

Sir Murray also announced that a liaison officer would be seconded next month to the British Embassy in Bangkok, with the full approval of the Thai Government. The move follows visits by the Commissioner for Narcotics to Burma, Laos and Thailand earlier this year.

The Governor emphasised that in attempting to reduce and eradicate the drug problem in Hong Kong, progress must be made in four separate but inter-related fields.

Firstly, he said, international action was essential in the prevention of production and despatch of drugs to Hong Kong. "This relates to the Golden Triangle and Thailand, the country from which come nearly all opium and opium derivatives consumed in Hong Kong."

Secondly, international action was also required in the interception of shipment on the high seas, mostly by trawlers to international waters off Hong Kong.

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The other two were the suppression of clandestine entry into Hong Kong and distribution to addicts by local criminals, and the eradication of

demands by cure of addiction

both of which were directly. within Hong

Kong's jurisdiction.

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