ENG-1982 — Page 141

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HEALTH

submitted for registration under the Pharmacy and Poisons Regulations are also closely examined together with samples of pharmaceutical products taken from retail outlets.

The laboratory has a statutory responsibility for the physical and chemical testing of food. This work, which stems from the activities of the Hygiene Division of the Urban Council and Urban Services Department, was further developed during the year to meet exacting international standards. The laboratory is also responsible for the testing of cigarettes on sale in the local market for tar and nicotine yields in accordance with the provisions under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance 1982.

Narcotics

Drug abuse is a long-standing problem in Hong Kong with serious social, economic, legal, medical and psychological implications. The government's expressed policy is to stop the illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs into Hong Kong, to develop a multi-modality treatment and rehabilitation programme for drug addicts and to dissuade residents, particularly young people, from experimenting with drugs so as to reduce substantially and eventually to eradicate, drug abuse in the community.

The exact number of addicts in Hong Kong is not known. However, findings from the government's computerised Central Registry of Drug Abuse and other linked indicators showed that the number of drug addicts in Hong Kong in 1982 was in the region of 40 000. Since September, 1976, the registry has received 165 697 reports on 40 014 individual addicts of whom only 6.5 per cent were females. Of the 40 014 reported addicts, 61 per cent were over 30 years of age at the time of their first report, 33 per cent were in the 20 to 29 age bracket and only six per cent were under 20. Heroin is the principal drug of abuse in Hong Kong and was used by 97 per cent of the addicts reported to the registry in 1982; two per cent took opium and the remaining one per cent were on other drugs. Injection is the most widely-used method of taking heroin - especially when its price is high and supply is scarce - while opium abusers generally smoke the drug.

The profile of a typical addict in Hong Kong is an adult male over 21, in the lower income group, with not more than six years of formal education, living in overcrowded conditions and generally employed as a casual labourer, or an unskilled or semi-skilled worker. He is single or, if married, usually separated from his family.

The real cost of the government's anti-narcotics programme is about $300 million a year. It consists of four main elements - law enforcement; treatment and rehabilitation; preventive education and publicity; and international co-operation. Law enforcement is the responsibility of the Narcotics Bureau and individual district formations of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, and the Customs and Excise Department. Treatment and rehabilitation are undertaken by the Medical and Health Department, the Correctional Services Department and a government-subvented voluntary agency, the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers (SARDA). Preventive education and publicity rests mainly with the Narcotics Division of the Government Secretariat, the Information Services Department and various government district offices concerned with community- building efforts. International co-operation is the responsibility of all.

The work undertaken in each of these four areas is inter-related. Effective law enforce- ment action pushes up the price of illicit drugs and reduces their supply - in turn, inducing addicts to seek treatment voluntarily.

A wide range of programmes is offered to addicts to suit their individual and varied needs. At the same time, preventive education and publicity efforts persuade others, especially the young, not to experiment with drugs. On the international front, Hong Kong