3
are reaching and probably passing through Hong Kong. The street price of one packet of #3 heroin (3 per day will sustain an addiet) has gone from U.S. $1.95 in 1971 to U.S. $1.63 today-a drop of 32 cents in two years.
The following chart indicates that wholesale prices of all nar- cotics, except heroin #4, have gone down appreciably since 1969 despite more vigorous enforcement activities:
[Amounts in Hong Kong dollars)
Year
1966.
1967.
1968
1969.
1970.
1971.
1972.
1973 3.
1 Per pound.
• Per ounce.
Opium
Opium (raw)1 (processed)1
Morphine Heroin No. 3*
Heroin No. 42
412
803
2, 115
142
334
364
676
1,924
122
273
549
1,018
2,833
167
342
612
1,025
3,008
151
297
570
872
2.816
149
333
432
775
2,578
137
629
379
551
2,170
125
600
336
723
2,004
120
601
January to February.
Treatment programs
There are two major treatment programs in Hong Kong: The 1 Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Addicts (SARDA) and the Prison Drug Addiction Center. The current combined total capacity of these facilities is only about 2,000-far too small to handle the 100,000 or more addicts in Hong Kong.
SARDA provides treatment for noncriminal drug dependents who volunteer for treatment. Originally, a volunteer signed a form in which he legally committed himself to stay for 180 days. If he was under 19 years of age, he had to stay for 1 year. As a practical matter, if a volunteer didn't want to stay, he would be released.
Recently, however. funding for SARDA was cut back and they were told to develop procedures to allow more drug dependents to be treated by reducing their time in the program. Persons entering the program now are given the option of leaving at the end of one month. Sixty percent have taken that option. The directors of the program are upset about the reduction in funds and new procedures. The program has become a revolving door: an addict or drug dependent just gets de- toxified and then is released without the benefit of any rehabilitation. (Shades of Lexington and Fort Worth.)
3,527 persons-3302 males and 225 females are now in the program in either inpatient or outpatient status. The center on the island of Shek Kwn Chau can accommodate 500 male inmates. The Wanchai Center on Hong Kong Island can handle 100 female inmates. If a person abstains for one year, he is made a member of the Alumni Association, and for three years abstention, he becomes a life member. SARDA has attached great prestige to the Alumni Association which functions much like Alcoholics Anonymous. From June 1963 through March 1972, SARDA handled 4,800 rehabilitation cases. Of 1,800 cases closed during the period and before the new procedures were instituted, 26.3 percent remained abstinent.
*
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