Sharp rise in drug abuse by teenage girls Education officials promise more resources to back testing scheme Liz Heron Sep 09, 2009 Email to friend | Print a copy Drug abuse among teenage girls has increased by nearly a fifth in the past year, officials have warned, as education chiefs promised extra support for the controversial drug testing scheme in schools. A total of 488 girls under the age of 21 sought help for the first time for drug problems in the first half of the year, compared with 409 in the same period last year - a rise of 19 per cent, figures released yesterday by the narcotics bureau show. Click here to find out more! The number of cases involving ketamine rose by 221 to 3,140 with psychotropic drugs in general and heroin also on an upward trend between the two half-year periods. Drug counselling and rehabilitation services for school pupils would be beefed up when the trial drug testing scheme was launched in Tai Po in December, education chiefs told a special meeting of the Legislative Council's education panel yesterday. Secretary for Education Michael Suen Ming-yeung said support for Counselling Centres for Psychotropic Drug Abusers (CCPSA) needed to be strengthened to ensure drug abusers identified through the scheme had access to rehabilitation. NGOs that sent social workers into schools in Tai Po would also be provided with additional services, including counselling and support to pupils and their parents taking part in the drug testing scheme. Suen said: "If we are to provide additional services, we will need to provide additional resources, but at this juncture we are still doing our sums. We will deploy resources according to the needs of the schools." There would be briefing sessions for parents and teachers in the next few weeks and it was hoped that consent forms would be issued to pupils and parents in November. Commissioner for Narcotics Sally Wong Pik-yee said: "The trial scheme is just one of many measures we are taking. Other districts will also get additional resources. Starting in October we are going to have more medical support provided to the CCPSAs and there will be a new centre in North District." The probation service would be enhanced and extra resources would be provided to two magistrates' courts to help them deal with drug offences involving young people. There would also be a 50 per cent increase in funding for police liaison work with schools, with 20 more officers recruited. In an about-face last week, officials said police would now play no part in the drug testing. In other changes, consent will be sought from all pupils, including minors, before they are asked to take the test, and those children who refuse will no longer have to undergo counselling. Lawmakers across the political spectrum backed the amended trial but some voiced concerns about the effectiveness of voluntary testing or the impact the scheme would have on pupils' relations with their schools and families. Independent legislator Dr Priscilla Leung Mei-fun said: "I personally support the general direction of this scheme, but I am very concerned about the details. How can you make it so that there is a broad participation? I come across teenagers very often. Their main concern is that they don't want to be singled out." Panel chairwoman Cyd Ho Sau-lan said: "I'm in favour of doing more to combat drug abuse but the trial scheme on school drug testing can be detrimental to trust. I believe consultation with young people has been inadequate." Members of the Action Committee Against Narcotics gave their full support to the trial scheme yesterday. ---------------------------------------------- Customs seizes US$2.95m of ketamine (07-21 19:34) Hong Kong customs announced a seizure of ketamine worth US$2.95 million (HK$23 million), amid government concern over a spike in the use of the party drug. The Customs and Excise Department said it foiled the trafficking attempt last week at Hong Kong International Airport, seizing 196 kilograms of ketamine. The shipment arrived in Hong Kong from Bombay, India, on July 11, with its contents marked as ''bags,'' a spokeswoman for the department said. ''The receiver's address raised our suspicions as it was similar to the one used in the ketamine trafficking case we foiled late last year,'' she said. The spokeswoman was referring to the customs' record seizure of 307kg of ketamine and 10kg of methamphetamine - also known as ''ice'' - at the airport in November 22. Customs officials believe the drugs in the latest seizure were to be transported to Taiwan, although they did not rule out the possibility that a small amount would have been traded in Hong Kong. Officers have arrested a Hong Kong man in connection with the case, the spokeswoman said. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=15736&icid=3&d_str=20090907 --------------------------- Teenager smuggling cocaine-soaked clothes nabbed (08-09 17:52) Customs said it arrested a teenager who was attempting to smuggle cocaine that had been soaked into items of clothing into HongKong. The 18-year-old Hong Kong man was stopped when he passed through the airport on Saturday, customs said in a statement. Officers seized 18 kilograms of clothes ``soaked'' with cocaine, the statement added. Radio Television Hong Kong said the man had concealed the cocaine in 35 items of clothing to try and avoid detection, but was stopped after officers noticed he was acting suspiciously. He had flown to Hong Kong from Peru via Johannesburg with the drugs, worth HK$5 million, RTHK said. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=15977&icid=3&d_str=20090907
Can you read? No one is abusing cough syrup. Jesus christ, is it that hard to skim before you make some retarded comment? Anyways, on topic, I find it kind of odd that weed isn't that common place in HK like it is here over in North America.
Yes, I can read but I do not feel the need to read these articles. Because having been to Hong Kong recently, I know how the drug situation is like in Hong Kong. Many of them are particularly getting high through chugging down cough syrup. It's either cough syrup or ketamine (or more commonly known as "K jai"). It has been this way for many years and not much has changed since.
Grass are easy to get in the West, People can grow em in their basement. In HK, E and K are dirty cheap and you'll get a betta buzz out em than grass, In the Canada it cost like $20+CDN a shot, most people don't have that kind of money. HK will always have drug problems, now and in the future, unless it starts to get strict and personal like Singapore.
cough syrup's been going on for about a year i guess. I watched a documentary-like show about HK teens/adults doing drugs, sigh....lost in life, good that they being tested now
Your statement of "no one is abusing cough syrup" is not only incorrect, but shows a limited awareness of a persistent Hong Kong drug problem that has not only been extensively studied for over the last 20 years, but has also been widely acknowledged to be a debilitating and chronic social ill for HK youth in particular. Far from being a "retarded comment" the other respondent seems a lot more knowledgeable of the history of improper drug use and their impact in HK than most. -rolleyes HK Cough syrup abuse has been going on for years (1980's), and studies began on the societal effects of its illicit use (in HK) since the early 1990's (IIRC). Its improper use has also been acknowledged in popular culture, as TVB contemporary serials will periodically show a ne'er do well (as a part of his screen characterization), habitually swig from a small white plastic bottle, the tell tale sign of a chronic cough syrup abuser in HK. Spoiler Other sources: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7398/is_1_36/ai_n32059050/?tag=content;col1 http://www.yearbook.gov.hk/2006/en/16_06.htm http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3206947
^:nono::nono: ralph, i wasnt born that period so lol. i said that base on the news i read from, guess it became so serious (again) thats why its constantly on the news. appreciate the history, that was quite surprising
at least the triads r making the money...kids sniffing in class and popping is pretty bad..but all the stress they get from school and shit...i can see why they do it i don't know where you're getting your E from but all i know is that's a rip-off and only desperate or stupid ppl will pay that for a pill
OK, I guess I was being lazy with that post. When I said no one is abusing cough syrup, I meant that the article isn't talking specifically about it. Cough syrup when abused can be dangerous however, the OP and the news article he shared with us were about more potent stuff. Also, @tinlunlau, so you've been to HK therefore you know all about this? I'm betting you saw a group of people who actually did this and you assumed that that group is representative of the whole HK youth/population? Presumptuous much?
They were doing the cough syrup thing for ages now... watched a drama series that dramatises teenage drug abuse when I was still a kid in HK like 6 years old and the bitch emptied a whole bottle of syrup. I haven't done research into this subject myself, but all the government seems to be doing thus far is stopping the people from further doing drugs. Random testing can only limit so much, kids are smarter and more cunning these days, they will find ways to get around the system. I think the government needs to get to the source of it all, why the kids were doing it in the first place. They need to stop kids from getting into drugs, not just focusing on stopping the "current" drug problem... the beginning is the problem here.
The problem with cough syrup in HK is that "very small" (0.1% or less) portions of Codeine, the principle opiate ingredient found in cough preparations, doesn't require medical prescription. A licensed pharmacist is allowed to sell such mixtures on their own; ie. over the counter (OTC). This however, equates to 100 MG of Codeine in your typical 100 ML white plastic medicine bottle (slightly more than three fluid ounces). With an equipotent dose about one tenth that of Morphine; a 100 ML bottle of cough syrup will deliver the same narcotic effect as 10 MG of Morphine; and all without a prescription. In the US, much stricter controls on Codeine haven't solved this problem either. Another anti-tussive (cough suppressant) compound, Dextromethorphan, was originally designed to replace Codeine. It had been touted as being non-addictive and hence much safer than an opiate. But it turns out that in excessively large doses, hallucinagenic effects similar to that produced by Ketamine or Phencyclidine (PCP) become apparent. This type of abuse is more common in the US than in HK, as much of the commercial OTC anti-tussives have replaced Codeine with Dextromethorphan (DXM) as their primary ingredient. "Robiting," a word play on the brand name of a popular US cough syrup (Robitussin) is street slang for DXM induced highs. The reality is, that unscrupulous pharmacies the world over share much of the blame. They may not be the root social or emotional cause of drug addiction, but they're certainly no angels when it comes to criminal facilitation.
Ok, first of all, stop putting words into my mouth. I did not imply that these group of people are representative of the entire youth population in Hong Kong. I merely stated that I have been to these shady areas and I have seen this stuff happening. Nowhere did I say that this is all they do. Just statin' the facts here!
It is somewhat amusing that you reply to threads without reading the first post and merely make one based on the title. Anyways, you said many of them with such confidence that I thought you were some kind of expert on the issue. Saying you have had a chance to witness the abuse of cough syrup would be a fact I guess but just having witnessed it that time and immediately saying you have a grasp of the whole "drug situation" in HK is exaggeration.
