La
8 February 1977
Mr Frank Hooley (Sheffield, Heeley): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what is the nearest estimate of the number of drug addicts in Hong Kong in 1974, 1975 and 1976; and if the trend to addiction is greater or less than in earlier years.
No W40
MR EVAN LUARD
As I have said in answer to another of my hon Friend's Questions today, the number of drug addicts in Hong Kong has been estimated at 80,000 to 100,000. It would not be realistic to provide estimates of annual variations within this figure during the past three years. There is no evidence to suggest that the number of drug addicts in Hong Kong is increasing. In fact, there is encouraging evidence that the proportion of young persons taking dangerous drugs has been decreasing. Thus, the proportion of inmates under the age of 21 in the Prisons Department's Drug Addiction Treatment Centres has dropped from 25% in 1969 to 9% in 1976, the proportion of male patients under the age of 19 admitted for voluntary treatment by the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts has declined from 13% in 1969 to 4% in 1976 and the number of persons under the age of 21 currently registered at the Medical and Health Department's methadone maintenance and detoxification clinics represents only 2.5% of all those registered.
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