TNAG-0418-FCO40-464-Review-of-narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 104

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available more than once. At present

and bearing

in mind that the overall relapse rate following treatment

is probably not less than 70% and may be considerably higher- Hong Kong does not therefore possess the facilities to treat anything like the number of

addicts thought go be here.

4.

Basically two systems of treating and rehabilitating drug addicts are used. One is undertaken by the Prisons Department within a disciplinary framework and under the compulsion of Court Orders. The other is operated by Voluntary Agencies who provide for addicts cffering themselves for cure, notably by the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts (SARDA) and the Discharged Prisoners Aid Society (DPAS). The only real sanction against volunteer addicts is expulsion for those who do not co-operate, or make a nuisance of themselves. As might be expected, the Voluntary Agencies' task is thus the more difficult.

The Prisons Department

5.

The Prisons Department operates three establishments for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts :

(a) Tai Lam Addiction Treatment Centre; (b) Ma Po Ping Addiction Treatment Centre; and (c) Tai Lam Treatment Centre for Women.

These are administered under the provisions of the Drug Addiction Treatment Centres Ordinance, Cap 244, enacted in January 1969. (Treatment during the period before it was enacted was experimental: only from 1969 onwards has a proper treatment programme been in use). This Ordinance provides that a person who is a drug addict and who is found guilty of an offence punishable with imprisonment may be sentenced by a court to a period of between six and eighteen months detention in a drug treatment centre followed by a period of twelve months aftercare supervision, in lieu of a

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