ENG-1998 — Page 226

HEALTH

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To better equip school students with the skills to refuse drug offers, the Narcotics Division revamped the drugs education talks for Primary Six and secondary school students. New videos were produced and used in the talks. Drugs education talks were also extended to Primary Five students, coupled with an animated cartoon video to make the talks more receptive to young children.

During the year, the Narcotics Division's school talk team gave 492 drugs education talks to 89 897 students in 409 primary and secondary schools and technical institutes. Talks were also organised for parents, members of youth organisations, and juvenile offenders at the boys' and girls' homes operated by the Social Welfare Department.

To help teachers and social workers to understand more about drug abuse, training workshops and seminars were organised for them. Drugs education talks were also held for trainee teachers under the co-ordination of the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

A radio show disseminating anti-drugs messages was held in June in support of the annual International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Various other opportunities were also taken to drive home the anti-drugs messages, including a joint radio show with the Housing Authority and a special television show.

With ACAN's funding support, the District Fight Crime Committees organised 18 district campaigns involving the community through activities such as visits, camps, seminars, carnivals, variety shows, competitions and exhibitions. School-based activities were also organised by six District School Liaison Committees with ACAN funds.

The ACAN Community Against Drugs Scheme continued to provide encouragement and grants of up to $6,000 to youth groups to plan and implement anti-drugs education and publicity projects. It financed 18 projects during the year. The ACAN Youth Volunteer Group took part in district campaigns and organised several community involvement projects, including a sand sculpture competition, a cartoon drawing competition and an anti-drugs charity walk for the Community Chest.

ACAN's Anti-Drug Abuse Hotline (2366 8822) continued to provide information on law enforcement, prevention of drug abuse, treatment and rehabilitation services and commonly abused substances. Members of the public can obtain information from the 24-hour automated hotline through facsimile service. It received 33 202 calls during the year.

Research

Drug-related research is conducted to give a better portrait of the drug scene. During the year, the ACAN Sub-committee on Research discussed the findings and proposals of a number of drug-related research projects and allocated funds to support 10 such projects. Of these projects, two were completed and the other eight were still under way at the end of the year.

The computerised Central Registry of Drug Abuse provides a useful means of monitoring changes in trends and characteristics of the local drug-abuser population. It provides a database which facilitates the formulation and planning of effective and realistic anti-drugs policies. Two statistical analyses were published during the year.