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XII. MISCELLANEOUS
Two publications (a) 'The Royal Hong Kong Police Narcotics Bureau Bulletin', which is published half-yearly and circulated to narcotics agencies throughout the world (b) 'Heroin Manur': oture in Hong Kong', copics of which have already beon circulated on a world-wide basis.
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In June, 1973, importent informal discussions about the entire gamut of the dangerous drugs problem in the Far East as it offccts the United Kingdom, United States of America and Hing Kong took place in ilong Kong. Senior Government officers from the U.K., U.S. A. and Hong Kong had wide ranging talks to develop ideas and improve existing law enforcement measures in an attempt to get to grips more effectively with drug trafficking in the Far East.
During the year a number of police dogs were trained to locate opium and morphine. They proved very successful and the morphine dog located two large caches of the familiar '999' brand morphine blocks at the sites of heroin refineries. An attempt was made to train a dog to locate acetic anhydride, but due to the noxious smell the dog showed signs of physical discomfort and reluctance to 'seek' acetic anhydride and the training was discon- tinued.
The Central Registry of drug addicts, established by the Action Committee Against Narcotics (ACAN) in April 1972, has received encouraging response and support from reporting agencies. The information gathered is strictly confidential to protect the identity of individual addicts and a computer used to analyse the data. Since 1972, about 45,000 returns have been received at an average of 2,000 per month.
In August 1972, Government appointed the first Commissioner for Narcotics to co-ordinate the anti-drug activities of Hong Kong in all their forms towards the eventual fulfilment of Government's declared policy to stop illicit drug trafficking and to rid the community of drug abuse. The Commissioner is also Government's spokesman on matters in the narcotics field and is responsible for overseas liaison.
In December, 1972, two methadone maintenance pilot schemes were started in Hong Kong. One is run by the Medical and Health Department and the other by the Hong Kong Discharge Prisoners' Aid Society, a Government subvented agency. Both schemes are planned as experiments for three years with initial hospitalisation for two or three weeks followed by out-patient treatment with patients going daily for their dose which is given in a mixture of fruit cordial. While the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society programme is confined to 100 patients on stricter admission criteria, the Government programme is expected to cover a total of 1,550 patients. Participation is free and on a voluntary basis. The results of those schemes are subject to continuous review.
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