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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah on drug treatment and rehabilitation services for young people in the Legislative Council today (January 24):
Question:
Regarding drug rehabilitation services for young people, will the Government inform this Council of:
(a) the number of youngsters who underwent drug rehabilitation in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown by genders, age groups and drug types, as well as their respective percentages in the total number of youngsters who underwent drug rehabilitation;
(b) the number and names of existing drug rehabilitation centres specifically set up for young people, and whether the authorities have reviewed the adequacy of facilities in these centres; and
(c) the other support measures to help youngsters rehabilitate from drug addiction?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Administration's anti-drug policy is embodied in the "five-pronged" strategy, namely legislation and law enforcement, treatment and rehabilitation, preventive education and publicity, research and external cooperation. In the provision of treatment and rehabilitation services, Hong Kong adopts a multi-modality approach to cater for the different needs of drug dependent persons from varying backgrounds. Services can broadly be grouped into the following five categories:
(i) compulsory drug treatment programme at drug addiction treatment centres (DATCs) operated by the Correctional Services Department (CSD);
(ii) residential drug treatment centres and halfway houses (RDTCs/HWHs) run by non-government organisations (NGOs);
(iii) methadone treatment programme (MTP) provided by the Department of Health (DH);
(iv) counselling centres for psychotropic substance abusers (CCPSAs) subvented by the Social Welfare Department (SWD); and
(v) substance abuse clinics (SACs) run by the Hospital Authority (HA).
Admission figures of youngsters aged under 21 to various treatment programmes in each of the past three years are set out at Annex A. The Administration does not routinely collate statistics on the total number of persons who have received treatment in a year (or further breakdowns by gender and age groups).
According to the information under the Central Registry of Drug Abuse (Note) about the type of drugs taken by young drug abusers, in the first three quarters of 2006, the most commonly abused drug is ketamine, followed by Ecstasy and cannabis. Figures for the past three years are set out at Annex B.
(b) At present, CSD runs two DATCs which provide compulsory drug treatment programmes for persons of 14 years old or above addicted to drugs who are found guilty of offences and sentenced to imprisonment. DH operates the MTP which offers both maintenance and detoxification options for opiate drug dependent persons of all ages through a network of 20 methadone clinics on an outpatient mode. Five CCPSAs are operated by NGOs as subvented by SWD to provide counselling services and other assistance to psychotropic substance abusers and youth at risk with a view to steering them away from drugs. There are also 17 non-government agencies running 39 RDTCs/HWHs. A list of these centres is at Annex C. All except three RDTCs/HWHs are currently providing services to young drug abusers.
The Administration has reviewed from time to time the provision to different types of drug treatment centres. Funding or policy support would be provided to enhance their facilities, or resources deployed to strengthen their programmes where appropriate in the light of the latest drug abuse situation and service needs.
(i) Methadone clinics mainly target opiate abusers and their services are adequate in that regard.
(ii) Many RDTCs/HWHs which traditionally treat opiate abusers have re-engineered or expanded their services to cater for the specific needs and demand of psychotropic substance abusers. Additional provisions have been allocated to various RDTCs/HWHs to carry out upgrading/improvement works.
(iii) CSD has recently introduced a scientific and evidence-based assessment protocol and implemented the matching rehabilitative programmes to enhance its service for offenders in DATCs.
(iv) We are also working to expand the premises or reprovision two CCPSAs for better service delivery. Starting from April this year, we would deploy further resources to CCPSAs to strengthen their outreaching services and early intervention work, as well as their collaboration with schools, law enforcers, medical practitioners and other NGOs in helping drug abusers, particularly youngsters.
Separately, HA runs five SACs which provide medical treatment to psychotropic substance abusers with psychiatric problems. Having regard to the existing services provided, the usage of such services at present, the need of the public for other specialist psychiatric services and the current allocation of resources, HA does not have any plan to further expand its services for drug rehabilitation at this stage.
(c) Other measures to help youngsters rehabilitate from drug addiction include:
(i) At methadone clinics, young drug abusers are given priority to receive counselling service from social workers. Training which focuses on empowerment and raising their self-esteem has been provided.
(ii) To meet the demand of psychotropic substance abusers for medical services, a working group has been set up under the Sub-Committee on Treatment and Rehabilitation of the Action Committee Against Narcotics to look into the possibility of strengthening cooperation between private medical practitioners and social workers. Apart from tapping the professional expertise of medical practitioners to address the medical needs of the abusers, we also aim to widen the network for early identification and intervention at the community level so that abusers, in particular young and occasional drug abusers, may be given medical treatment and advice or referred to counselling or other services at an early stage. We are planning to launch a pilot cooperation scheme within 2007.
(iii) Parents play a very important part in the life and development of their children. We have stepped up our drug education programme for parents. We have organised seminars for parents to enhance their knowledge of drugs as well as heighten their awareness of signs of drug abuse. Two special radio programmes have been produced to enhance the skills of parents in strengthening parent-child relationship and in supporting drug-abusing children to quit drugs.
(iv) The Beat Drugs Fund provides funding support to organisations to hold various kinds of anti-drug activities including treatment and rehabilitation programmes targeting the youth.
We will continue to enhance our strategic partnership with various sectors and explore new horizons in our fight against youth drug abuse.
(Note) The Registry collates information on drug abusers submitted by a wide network of reporting agencies regularly and voluntarily. Reporting agencies cover law enforcement agencies, treatment and rehabilitation organisations, welfare agencies, tertiary institutions, hospitals and clinics.
Ends/Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:29
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