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We are also committed to set up two additional residential treatment centres for young opiate abusers and a new counselling centre in the New Territories for psychotropic substance abusers. An amount of $17 million has been reserved for the centres, and the operators for these centres have already started the necessary planning work.
Preventive education has also been stepped up. Our aim is to inculcate in our young people a healthy and positive attitude to life, and to encourage them to resist the temptation to take drugs. The Education Department has taken a series of steps to beef up preventive education, targeting not only the young students but also parents; it is also carrying out a programme of assistance and training to schools and teachers to enable them to perform their essential task of educating their students to stay away from drugs more effectively. The Social Welfare Department has also set up a team of specially trained social workers to help young drug abusers.
We recognise the seriousness of the drug problem. In order to highlight the need for a concerted effort from the community as a whole to fight the war against drugs, and to tap the ideas of all concerned, the Governor chaired a Summit Meeting on Drugs in March. We are pursuing vigorously the action plans arising from the ideas and proposals from the Drugs Summit. The second quarterly progress report on these initiatives will be released later today. To add further impetus to the Beat Drugs campaign, we will set up a $350 million Beat Drugs Fund to finance worthwhile projects to counter the drug problem.
The drug abuse problem is a complex challenge which should be tackled by the community as a whole. Together we can beat drugs.
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