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hypnotics/major tranquillizers; hypnotics/antihistamines; antidepressants/ tranquillizers. A survey of 2 000 households, selected by sampling, from the total population of the Bangkok Metropolis reveals that 24 per cent of persons aged 21 to 25 years, 16 per cent of those above 25 years and 11 per cent below 20 years of age have tried illicit drugs. Hore than half of the persons abusing drugs commenced using them before the age of twenty-one. A large number of the young addicts are school truants. A survey of 1 613 students in Chiengmai shows that 23 per cent has experienced the use of illicit drugs and that 6 per cent are currently using them. Cannabis appears to be the most commonly used drug in schools. The abuse of psychotropic substances (tranquillizers and sleeping pills) is widespread among urban inhabitants.
77. BRUNET The number of opium addicts remains unchanged. abused. A few drug offences by young persons are reported.
Cannabis is also
78. HONG KONG 20/ There were 32 000 registered drug addicts at the end of 1975. Twelve thousand addicts were undergoing treatment in either custodial or voluntary facilities. It is estimated that 90 per cent of addicted persons use heroin. Most of the addicts were men over 21 years of age from the lower income groups, of low education (not more than five years' schooling), single or, if married, living separated from their families usually in overcrowded conditions. Those employed are usually unskilled or semi-skilled labourers or factory process-workers.
79. MACAO Heroin, amphetamines and methadone are abused, although the number of persons abusing them has not been estimated. These drugs are most commonly taken in combination (heroin/amphetamines; heroin/methadone). There were 145 persons prosecuted for heroin and morphine offences.
B. Main characteristics of drug abuse in Asia and the Far East
80. The problem of drug abuse in this region, based on available information from ten countries and three territories, is mainly characterized by: (i) a rapid and increasing spread of heroin abuse, mainly by young men from urban areas; (ii) prevailing traditional opium abuse, mostly by older populations (rural and urban); (iii) wide abuse of cannabis; (iv) rising trends in the abuse of barbiturate-type drugs by young and middle-aged people but abuse of Mandrax/ me thaqualone by urban youth; (v) more widespread abuse of LSD and other hallucinogens as compared with previous years; (vi) an increase in amphetamine abuse in some countries; (vii) multiple drug abuse is the most usual pattern of drug taking.
81.
Most countries of the region are confronted with serious problems of addiction to opiates. This is particularly true of the following countries: Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the territory of Hong Kong. Opium consumption, which has been known for generations, is still prevalent in both the rural and urban areas of most countries among people over 30 years of age, mainly in the lower income groups.
This problem has recently been complicated by the extremely rapid spread and increase in heroin addiction (by smoking or injection), particularly among young people from urban areas. Addiction to morphine and other opiates is
20/ Statement by representative at fourth special session.
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