TNAG-0417-FCO40-463-Review-of-narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 48

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APPENDIX 'B'

heroin. But heroin is the major drug of abuse in the Colony

and therefore perhaps grounds other than medical may exist to warrant

legalisation. Unlike certain other cities, there is no evidence at

the moment to suggest that addiction to heroin by many thousands of people is a cause of major crime; but there is evidence to indicate

that heroin addiction is one of the principal causes of divorce and

family disintegration in Hong Kong. Once addicted, the psychological dependence upon heroin is high quite apart from the physical and a

slavish urge to take it sets in which becomes more difficult to

resist as time goes by and tolerance develops. A factor often

advanced in favour of making heroin available legally to those who

demand it is the alleged inability of the addict to control his

craving on the one hand and the low success rate achieved in the

treatment and rehabilitation of addicts on the other due mainly

to their lack of motivation. It is argued that in such

circumstances to make heroin possession and consumption

criminal offences serves no worthwhile purpose since those

involved are sick persons acting under compulsive stress, not

law breakers in the normal sense.

3.

It is difficult to accept this hypothesis in the position in which Hong Kong is situated today. Apart from the fact that

there is a small amount of evidence available to suggest that some

addicts are able to control their intake, to register the thousands

of addicts here and legalise heroin sale for their consumption

would almost certainly create a large black market in the drug

emanating originally from authorised retailers. This would invite

a public scandal. Furthermore, the quantity of heroin available from legal sources would be unlikely to satisfy the demand of the enormous market in the Colony, including export, which would lead to illicit trafficking and manufacture being continued, probably

on a scale not very different from that which exists at present. To remove the stigma from heroin must inevitably increase the chances of the number of addicts rising over the years having regard to the social and domestic conditions prevailing in the

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