The number of drug abusers reported to the Central Registry of Drug Abuse in 2003 showed an encouraging downward trend, dropping 13.1% in 2003 compared with 2002.

This was heartening, Commissioner for Narcotics Rosanna Ure said.

Briefing members of the Action Committee Against Narcotics at its meeting today on the drug abuse situation in 2003, Mrs Ure said the trend reflects the efforts made by the Government and the community in combating drug abuse. 

There would be no let-up in the fight against drugs despite the fall in the number of addicts, she stressed.

NGOs, parents, teachers asked to pitch in

She also called on non-governmental organisations, parents, teachers and the community to strive for a drug-free society.  

Mrs Ure noted that in 2003, the number of reported drug abusers aged under 21 fell to 2,130 from 3,000 in 2002, a drop of 29%.

The number of newly reported drug abusers aged under 21 also decreased, from 2,167 in 2002 to 1,629 in 2003, a drop of 24.8%.

Compared with 2002, the overall number of newly reported drug abusers fell by 17.9%, from 5,239 in 2002 to 4,303 in 2003, Mrs Ure said.

Heroin tops drug-abuse list

The most commonly abused drugs in all age groups were heroin (74.7%), ketamine (13.6%), triazolam/midazolam (11%) and cannabis (7.3%), while those commonly abused by people under 21 were ketamine (62.5%), "ecstasy" (34.1%) and cannabis (28.4%).

Mrs Ure noted that the central registry saw a decrease in the overall number of abusers of most drug types, including a drop in the number of psychotropic substance abusers, from 5,576 in 2002 to 5,112 in 2003, a fall of 8.3%.

Psychotropic substance abuse is addictive

"Clarifying the misconception that abuse of psychotropic substances is not addictive and is less harmful will continue to be the emphasis of our preventive education and publicity programmes in 2004," she said.   

The number of reported ketamine abusers dropped by 30.2%, from 2,688 in 2002 to 1,875 in 2003.

The reported number of heroin abusers also dropped by 12.6%, from 11,824 to 10,330, while that of cannabis fell by 21.8%, from 1,295 to 1,013.

Number of young abusers falls

A drop was also observed in the reported number of young abusers of most types of drugs.

The reported number of ketamine abusers aged under 21 fell by 37.4%, from 1,755 to 1,099, while recorded "ecstasy" abusers fell from 926 to 599, a decrease of 35.3%.

The overall number of multiple drug abusers also fell, from 3,124 in 2002 to 2,887 in 2003, a drop of 7.6%, while the reported multiple drug abusers aged under 21 also fell, by 29.2%, from 1,076 to 762.

Despite the decrease in the number of reported abusers aged under 21, youngsters will continue to be one of the main targets of Hong Kong's anti-drug education and publicity campaign in 2004/05, Mrs Ure said, adding that emphasis will be on encouraging them to exercise peer influence positively and to make the correct decision of refusing drugs.

Even 'soft' drugs result in fatalities

At today's meeting, action committee members also noted a paper on fatality cases related to ketamine abuse based on data collected from the Government Laboratory.

One of the cases involved an 18-year-old man who was a keen swimmer and a member of his college team. He was found drowned on a beach.

The urine and blood tests suggested that a mixture of drugs, including ketamine, had been taken prior to his death. The autopsy report said that ketamine could have contributed to his death.

In another case, a 26-year-old man died in a traffic accident. He had driven at excessive speed after the consumption of alcohol and a cocktail of drugs, including ketamine and ecstasy.

"These cases remind the public of the dire consequence of drug abuse and also dispel misconceptions that psychotropic substances are relatively harmless," Mrs Ure said.