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facilities at Castle Peak have now been replaced by a Rehabilitation
Centre, run by the Society for Lid and Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts
with Government financial support.
10. Government effort is concentrated at present in the treatment of
convicted prisoners and, since 1958, a special open prison has been in
operation at Tai Lan providing full rehabilitation for prisoners sentenced
for a sufficient period of tine. The value of the experience gained
and the research at this institution has attracted world wide recognition
and it has been chosen by the U.N. Asia and Far East Institute as their
centre for field work training.
Publicity
11.
Publicity campaigns are carried out to onlist public cooperation
and appreciation of the dangers of drug addiction, without which no
campaign against drugs can hope to succeed. The majority of Chinose
still regard drug addiction as a personal rather than a social problem.
They pity or despise addicts but are unwilling to report trafficking or
indulgence in drugs when they encounter them.
12.
Government policy on the varied aspects of drug trafficking and
addiction is coordinated by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and the
Goverment Narcotics Advisory Committee. In 1964 the Committee considered
whether harsher penalties, including the death penalty, should be
introduced for narcotics offences. It found no evidence that harsher
penalties would in themselves be effective and supported the view that
fixed minimum sentences would be repugnant to the British system of
justice. The existing maximum sentences are life imprisonment for the
illicit manufacture of dangerous drugs and 15 years for dealing.
13. Early in 1965 an Assistant Secretary of Chinese Affairs was
appointed to work full time on anti-narcotics affairs.
Committee Lgainst Narcotics was also formed. The Committee is composed of representatives of Government departments and voluntary organisations,
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