XN000022-1996-07-03 — Page 9

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Of them, 1,006 were newly reported, a drop of 9.2 per cent from 1,108. The number of previously reported persons however noted an increase by 1.4 per cent to 5,838 from 5,758.

Also noteworthy in the statistics is the percentage of female drug abusers which has increased from 10.3 per cent (705) to 10.9 per cent (745) for all ages and from 19.4 per cent (272) to 23.2 per cent (275) for those under 21.

Compared the drug abuse pattern among all reported persons; a slight increase was noted in the percentage of psychotropic substances abusers from 11.1 per cent to 12.1 per cent, but the proportion of multiple drug abusers decreased slightly from 4.6 per cent to 4.4 per cent.

For those aged under 21, the percentage of psychotropic substance abusers increased from 29.9 per cent (378) to 34.6 per cent (383).

More than half (52.3 per cent) of the young drug abusers attributed the reason of drug taking to peer pressure. Other common reasons were curiosity (33.8 per cent), avoidance of the discomfort of withdrawal (31.5 per cent), relief of boredom, depression or anxiety (18.6 per cent) and seeking euphoria or sensory satisfactory (14.7 per cent).

On the treatment front, a total of 3,732 persons were admitted to the three government-funded treatment programmes in the first quarter of 1996, including the voluntary in-patient treatment programme, the methadone programme and the compulsory placement programme. Of them, 962 were first-time admissions. These represented an increase in total admissions by 4.7 per cent and an increase in new admissions by 6.8 per cent.

Among the total admissions, 520 were aged under 21, of which 343 were new admissions. The figures showed increases of 7.4 per cent and 5.2 per cent respectively.

The methadone programme recorded the highest increase in newly admitted young drug abusers, by 13.5 per cent to 322.

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