reduced, causing a spiralling increase of heroin prices to an all-time high during the year. Number 3 heroin, for example, was selling at street level for $168,000 per kilogramme in March 1976, a rise of 400 per cent compared with the price two years ago. The shortage of drugs and high prices induced many icts to seek voluntary treatment particularly in the newly established methadone detoxification programme. It is believed that high prices also had a deterrent effect on young people who might otherwise have been tempted to experiment with dangerous drugs.
6 In treatment and rehabilitation, the Medical and Health Department launched a new methadone detoxification programme in June. Within a period of four months, 16 out-patient methadone detoxification centres were opened in carefully selected locations on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and in the New Territories. Response to the programme was very encouraging; more than 6,600 addicts had registered for treatment at the centres by the end of the year. The Prisons Department and the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts (SARDA) continued to expand and improve their treatment programmes. The former made good progress with the establishment of a new addiction treatment centre on the island of Hei Ling Chau. At present it could accommodate 794 inmates, and will be expanded to accommodate about 1,400 inmates, making it the department's largest treatment centre. SARDA reported a marked improve- ment in its after-care programme as a result of its adoption of a new approach in shifting from an individual-oriented basis to a community-oriented basis whereby case work, group work and community development methods are applied regionally and flexibly.
7 A new strategy for preventive education and publicity was formulated, and accepted by ACAN and the Government during the year. Its four main objectives are to win public support in combatting the drug problem, to prevent young people from experimenting with drugs, to encourage existing addicts to come forward and receive treatment, and to inform the international audience of Hong Kong's intentions and progress in the anti-narcotics field. In accordance with this new strategy, steps were taken during the latter half of the year to strengthen and augment existing efforts in this field.
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On the international front, new initiatives were taken to liaise with other governments and inter-governmental organizations. These included an international customs conference which was held in Hong Kong in May, and the secondment of a senior police officer to the United Kingdom, in addition to the one posted in 1975 to the Headquarters of the International Criminal Police Organization in Paris.
9 Operations in these four areas were co-ordinated. Effective law enforcement led to a rise in the prices of drugs, which helped to persuade addicts to seek treatment. Adequate treatment facilities were made available to meet the demand generated by enforcement action. Preventive education and publicity efforts advertised the availability and location of treatment clinics and facilities, and helped prevent the addict population from being swollen, particularly by young people.
10 Effective as they are, the Government's anti-narcotics programmes do not, and cannot, function in isolation. It is recognised that the twin evils of drug trafficking and drug abuse are related to other social problems. It is encouraging, therefore, to note that progress has been made in fighting such evils as violent crime and corruption, as well as in improving social services in the fields of public housing,
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medical care, education, employment opportunities and community and youth facilities.
11 On behalf of the Government, the Action Committee Against Narcotics would be to take this opportunity to express its thanks and appreciation to all those, th in Hong Kong and overseas, who have contributed to or assisted Hong Kong's fight against the drug problem. Much as we can be encouraged by the endeavours and successes of 1976, however, we cannot be complacent or satisfied. The patterns of trafficking and drug-abuse are constantly shifting, internally and externally, and we must constantly be alive to the possibility of new initiatives by those who feed on, and profit by, this evil trade. To achieve our long term objectives we shall in the future need continuing, and even more effective co-operation and co-ordination of efforts, than we have all experienced in the past, and on a world-wide scale.
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