ENG-1979 — Page 131

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HEALTH

not to experiment with drugs. On the international front, Hong Kong's drug fighters keep in close touch with their overseas counterparts and exchange information and ‘know-how' with them.

All these efforts are co-ordinated by the Action Committee Against Narcotics (ACAN), a non-statutory body comprising a chairman, nine government officials and five un- official members. The committee, formed in 1965, is the government's sole advisory body on all anti-narcotics policies and actions, whether domestic or external, and whether related to government departments or to voluntary agencies. The ACAN is serviced by the Nar- cotics Division of the Government Secretariat, headed by the Commissioner for Narcotics. In Hong Kong's battle against the evils of narcotics trafficking and abuse, 1979 was a year of sustained efforts and continued success. In the four programmes comprising the overall anti-narcotics strategy, some remarkable achievements were made.

In law enforcement, effective police and customs action, coupled with a drought in the main Southeast Asian opium-producing areas, resulted in a dramatic drop in illicit drug supplies in Hong Kong. This forced up the price of heroin to a record high in August when the wholesale price reached $63,500 a kilogram - an increase of 40 per cent since January or three-and-a-half times when compared with January, 1976. From June to August, the street-level price of a heroin addict's daily supply rose from $60 to $200, resulting in the majority of addicts being priced out of the illicit market.

A significant development during the year was the establishment of a joint police and customs intelligence unit at Kai Tak Airport. Its objectives are to collect information on drug traffickers and to investigate the methods used by drug couriers attempting to smuggle drugs into Hong Kong by air. The formation of this unit is not only improving efficiency in dealing with illicit drug trafficking at the airport, but it also represents a major advance in police and customs co-operation in narcotics law enforcement.

In the field of treatment and rehabilitation, it was the busiest year that Hong Kong has experienced. As a result of the sharp decrease in the availability of illicit drugs and the consequent high prices at street level, large numbers of addicts were induced to seek volun- tary treatment. Attendances at the out-patient methadone treatment centres operated by the Medical and Health Department increased by almost 80 per cent, from 4,400 a day in January to 8,000 in August. There was also a corresponding increase in the number of patients seeking voluntary in-patient treatment at the Shek Kwu Chau Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre run by the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers (SARDA), from 341 in January to 561 in July.

As a result of the increasing demand for voluntary treatment services, the government, on the advice of the Action Committee Against Narcotics, approved a special expansion programme in August. This included, inter alia, the conversion of selected evening meth- adone treatment centres to day centres, the posting of additional staff to methadone centres with high attendances, an increase in the approved accommodation of the Shek Kwu Chau in-patient treatment centre from 500 to 600 (for a trial period of one year), and the provision of a new urine-testing laboratory for methadone patients.

The Narcotics and Drugs Administration Division of the Medical and Health Depart- ment operates 20 methadone treatment centres, each providing both maintenance and detoxification services to addicts. Methadone maintenance is used as a substitute for hard drugs, while methadone detoxification aims at weaning addicts off drugs by gradually reducing their daily dosage. Addicts seeking treatment at methadone centres are able to select either type of treatment.

Following a recommendation by the Action Committee Against Narcotics, an encourag- ing development during the year was the government's agreement that patients maintained