XN000022-1994-12-20 — Page 8

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According to the statistics of the Government's Central Registry of Drug Abuse (CRDA) tabled at the meeting, the number of recorded drug abusers under the age of 21 increased by 35.7 per cent to 1,425, compared with 1,050 in the same period last

year.

Of that number, 606 were reported to the CRDA for the first time, a rise of 16.8 per cent from 519 in the third quarter in 1993.

However, the corresponding increases for the first and second quarters of this year were 21.1 per cent and 28.6 per cent respectively.

The number of persons of all ages reported to the CRDA in the third quarter was 7,720, an increase of 11.7 per cent against 6,912 in the same quarter in 1993. The number of newly reported persons of all ages stood at 1,141, up by 9.3 per cent from 1,044.

The major types of drugs abused during the period for all ages and the under-21 group alike were heroin, cannabis and cough medicines.

On the treatment side, in the third quarter of this year, a total of 4,478 persons were admitted to the major treatment programmes run by the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers, the Department of Health and the Correctional Services Department (CSD).

Of them. 1,190 or 26.6 per cent were first-time admissions.

These represented an increase in total admissions by 19.1 per cent and an increase in new admissions by 34.3 per cent.

The increase in new admissions in the third quarter was highest in the under-21 group in the Methadone Treatment Programme, from 94 to 215, up by 128.7 per cent, followed by CSD's Drug Addiction Treatment Centres, from 112 to 156, a rise of 39.3 per cent.

End/Tuesday, December 20, 1994