ENG-1978 — Page 122

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HEALTH

Government Laboratory

The Government Laboratory is an independent agency providing practical and advisory services to government and the private sector in the field of applied chemistry and related scientific disciplines.

The General Division of the Laboratory is responsible for examining food, dutiable products, pharmaceuticals and a wide range of commodities and materials. The division is also responsible for providing analytical support services to environmental protection activities, in particular the more complex determinations that are required and pilot scale work for the pollution monitoring units of the government.

The Law and Order Support Group is embodied in the Forensic Division of the Laboratory which provides scientific services to the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, the Customs and Excise Service, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Immigration Department and other law enforcement organisations. This division is responsible for work in such areas as narcotics, toxicology, scheduled poisons and general forensic science. The General Forensic Science Section includes a questioned document laboratory, a new forensic blood matching unit, and an arson investiga- tion group: broadly it deals with the scientific investigation of crimes against both property and people.

A special unit carries out urinalysis of patients attending the methadone mainten- ance and detoxification centres.

Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is a serious and long-standing problem in Hong Kong with social, cultural, legal, medical and psychological implications. In recent years, Hong Kong has been relentlessly dealing with the problem of drug abuse and trafficking. With the continuing advance on all fronts of its anti-narcotics work, Hong Kong can justifiably claim that it is containing the number of its existing addicts, has prac- tically eliminated the use of the territory as an export source of opiate drugs, and is making significant progress in preventing the spread of drugs among young people. An important development in anti-narcotics efforts during 1978 was completing the reorganisation and computerisation of the Central Registry of Drug Addicts which was started in September, 1976. With the help of two consultants from New York, the registry came into full operation in August. This is a major step forward as the flow from it of regular computerised reports will provide the government and voluntary agencies with a better insight into Hong Kong's overall drug problems and enable them to assess the effectiveness of various prevention and treatment programmes.

A preliminary analysis report from the registry, based on 58,900 records sheets collected between September, 1976, and June, 1978, indicates that the number of Hong Kong's drug dependants may be less than the estimate of 50,000 to 100,000 which has hitherto been commonly quoted. The report confirms that heroin is the main drug of abuse in Hong Kong. Results indicate that 83 per cent of the addicts use heroin, 12 per cent use opium, and the remaining five per cent use other drugs. With regard to geographical distribution of addicts, 36 per cent live in New Kowloon, 24 per cent in Kowloon, 22 per cent on Hong Kong Island, 17 per cent in the New Territories and on outlying islands, and 0.2 per cent in marine areas. Sixty-five per