ENG-1961 — Page 243

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LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS

Unofficial Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs as Chairman. This committee co-ordinates all measures in the campaign, while the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, the Medical and the Prisons Departments, the Preventive Service and the Police provide specialist services to combat traffic, to apprehend offenders and to cure addicts. Police action against addiction and trafficking is co-ordinated by a Force Narcotics Committee which was appointed in 1960. The Narcotics Bureau of the Police is responsible for the preven- tion and detection of major narcotics offences, and the collation and application of narcotics intelligence. The Bureau regularly exchanges information with other Police Forces and international organizations specially concerned with the suppression of the drug traffic.

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Measures' against clandestine factories, divans and distribution organizations continued unabated. All members of the Police are frequently reminded of their special responsibilities to combat the narcotics menace. In April, the Special Narcotics Squad attached to Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters was enlarged and divided into two separate sections which were placed under the operational control of the Assistant Commissioners in charge of the Hong Kong and Kowloon districts. These two sections worked with the established Divisional Narcotics Squads and their joint activities produced better results than had hitherto been possible; during 1961, 16,663 offences against the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance were detected.

In February, amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance increased the maximum penalties for the manufacture of drugs from a $50,000 fine and 10 years' imprisonment to a $100,000 fine and life imprisonment. But despite increased efforts to solve the drug problem, it remains a serious challenge to the Government and to the well-being of the community. One effect of the traffic in drugs was the increased incidence of miscellaneous crime com- mitted by addicts. Successful anti-narcotics measures at times raised the illicit market price of drugs to such an extent that addicts, desperate to maintain their supplies, resorted to theft and other offences against property to obtain the means of buying drugs.

The arrest and conviction of addicts are not in themselves effective solutions to the problem without medical treatment to