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Effectiv­e Strategi­es to Combat Drug Abuse in Hong Kong

2.281 Words / ~10 pages sternsternsternsternstern Author Luca S. in Apr. 2017
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Sociology

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Hong Kong Polytechnic University - PolyU HK

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A, Victor Wong, 2015

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Luca S. ©
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The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

School of Professional Education and Executive Development

General University Requirements (GUR)

SPD2310 Personal Management

(Semester 1, 2015/16)

Group Project

Subject Lecturer:Mr.

Tutorial Group:F11B

Team # : _

Word Count: _ words

Index

Sections

Page

Introduction

P.

Background

P.

Prevent the abuse of drugs

P.

Reduce the abuse of drugs

P.

Other countries’s example

P.

Recommendations and action plan

P.

Conclusion

P.

References

P.

Appendix

·

P.

Introduction

Drug abuse, also meaning by substance abuse with public health and medical definitions. It refers to the taking of drugs without following medical advice or prescription, or the indiscreet use of dangerous drugs for non-treatment purposes.

In Hong Kong, Heroin is the most commonly abused drug which it accounted for 28.9% of all illegal drug use and claims that more than 25% of drug abuse for those aged under 21. The most commonly psychotropic substance abused is Ketamine for teenagers.

In order to combat the drug problem, the government has allocated substantial public funds to finance the implementation for drug control. The average annual budget more than 700 million, which is about 45% earmarked for treatment and rehabilitation purposes. This ratio is even higher than the United States, Hong Kong's treatment and care for drug money. Thus, drug abuse problem makes a significant burden for the government.

On the other hand, why the trend of teen drug use in Hong Kong are decreasing, but the government using of money for drug control also are increasing? So that is the reason why drug abuse situation has not got much improved and it should be pay more attention for the drug problem.

Background

In recent years, government has done some works to prevent drug abuse. This table shows that the trend of first abuse from 2012 to 2015.

The graph is plotted based on the above table. Thus the no. of first abuse person from 2012 to 2015 has significantly decrease trend.

From the government data, it shows that 90.1% of the non-drug-taking students had heard of anti-drug messages. 81.9% of them through the anti-drug talks; 77.7% of them through mass media such as TV, radio, newspaper; 70.8% of them through anti-drug posters, and 69.9% of them through school curriculum/ material. These channels were also top sources reported by students across different education levels despite in different proportions.

A remarkable increase in the participation in anti-drug activities amongst the non-drug-taking students (69.9% in 2011 and 47.6% in 2008) was noted. Among those who participated in anti-drug activities, 76.8% of them through “seminars/ talks”, 40.9% of them through “classroom activities (e.g. project work)”; 27.9% of them through the “competition (e.g. music/ slogan-making)”. These were the most common activities participated.

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In 2015, Action Committee Against Narcotics showed the figures of drug abuse that drug use in Hong Kong continues to decline, the total number of reported drug abusers fell 11% year-on-year to 2,972 in the first quarter of the year, while the number of reported drug abusers aged fewer than 21 dropped 25% to 224 people (news Gov., 2015).

Although the trend of teen drug use in Hong Kong are decreasing, people should not ignore the real number of teen drug use should be more. This is because that the period of adolescence is an important time for mental and physical development. Teenager’s brains are still growing and they are easy to be tempted for drugs and there is using addictive drugs at this moment is very dangerous.

Prevent the abuse of drugs

Preventive education and publicity is one of the principal measures to combat drug abuse problem. The objectives of general preventive drug education and publicity measures are to deepen the public’s understanding and awareness of the risk factors leading to drug abuse; strengthen people’s resistance to the lure of drugs and peer influence and change their casual attitude to drug abuse; encourage parents, teachers and different stakeholders of the community to work together to tackle youth drug abuse through a collaborative approach; and mobilise the community to assist youth at risk and foster a drug-free youth culture in the community.

Major publicity campaign

A two-year territory-wide campaign against youth drug abuse with the theme “No Drugs, No Regrets. Not Now, Not Ever” to further strengthen the resolve of people to stay away from drugs. This campaign include following activities.

Competition

In 2007, a hip hop dance and music competition was jointly organised to promote a drug-free healthy lifestyle. In 2008, two major projects, including a drama training and production programme co-organised, and an anti-drug short film competition held were launched to help youngsters acquire a better understanding of the dire consequences of drug abuse.

These are the useful activities as about 30% persons were interested in this method.

TV drama series, “The Beauty of the Game” was produced and broadcast on TVB Channel, highlighting the harmful effects of drug abuse. This is also work as about 77.7% of non-drug-taking students received the anti-drug messages.

Anti-drug posters

Anti-drug roving exhibition panels were lent to primary and secondary schools for display at anti-drug activities. More than 230 anti-drug roving exhibitions were staged between 2007 and 2010. Thus, it is useful as 70.8% of non-drug-taking students received the anti-drug messages

Parents

Promotional materials targeting parents were sent to over two million households together with the bills of the Ratings and Valuation Department and Water Supplies Department in 2008 and 2009 to drive home anti-drug messages. A large scale parent seminar promoting parents’ awareness of the issue was also organised on August 8, 2009.

Reduce the abuse of drugs

There are several methods to reduce drugster which is provided by the government. Two main methods would be analyzed as below such as school drug testing and treatment & rehabilitation services.

To begin with, school drug testing is an efficient method for reducing the drugster. School drug testing is provided by the Narcotics Division of Security Bureau and the purpose of this testing is to let those students have drugs abuse to quit drugs and seek help. In other to, it provides the support services to put those students have drugs abuse to out of the drug trap.

The SDT team will select and test 3% to 5% of students randomly with this programme. According to the survey of Narcotics Division, there are 74% (Table 1) of participated believe that this programme can trigger motivation of those who abused drugs to quit drugs. Also, some 80 students abusing drugs go to the CCPSA voluntarily and get the help from the support services.

Table 1

Furthermore, the anther method is treatment and rehabilitation services. There are four programme of this service in Hong Kong including Compulsory placement programme, Out-patient methadone treatment programme, Substance Abuse Clinic and Support the treatment and rehabilitation of non- government organization. According to the survey of Narcotics Division, the success rate of compulsory placement programme is 64.5% in 2014 (Table 2).

Table 2

In other to, the average daily attendance rate of outpatient methadone treatment programme is 75.5% in 2014 (Table 3).

Table 3

Compare with 2009 to 2014, the success rate of compulsory placement programme and out-patient methadone treatment programme is descend, which have 8.69% and 0.7% respectively (Table 3). It is mean that the effects of government drug rehabilitation center in 2014 is lower.

Table 4

Also, it is not enough for government to support the treatment and rehabilitation of non- government organization. There are 39 drug rehabilitation centers but only 19 of them will supported by Department of Health or Social Welfare Department. It is less than half.

Other countries’s example

In Japan, There is Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Center (DARC) to prevent abuse of drugs. DARC has 57 branches with 78 facilities all over Japan. Their funder Tsuneo Kondo said that “Putting addicts in jail in the first place will not help prevent drug crimes or reduce recidivism.” Their policy is to help people recovering addicts. First, they need to live in DARC dormitories and attend two internal meetings.

In Taiwan, There is Advanced Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Institute (ADAPT) to prevent abuse of drugs. ADAPT is focus on research of drug prevention and spit it into seven field: drug investigation and monitoring (E.g., drug database building), policy evaluation (E.g., policy to control 3rd and 4th grades of drug), drug abstinence, preventative education (E.g., introduce individuals from different backgrounds to the drug prevention field.), policy making, the network of social integration, and juvenile drug abuse prevention.

Also, there are international cooperation with NIDA (US), AIC (Australia) and EMCDDA (UN).

In America, the department that control drug abuse is National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). There are three way to do. First, they highlights parenting skills are important for preventing drug among youth with positive and negative examples of skill, So they have Family Checkup to help the public. Second, is the TV Spotlight about communities that care. They will have a TV interview discuss on treating addiction through a community supported science based approach.

For achieving successful drug abuse prevention among young people, the understanding and cooperation from families and local communities are essential. In Singapore, the government infuses the drug abuse information to the public through mass media including TV, newspapers and periodicals. Apart from that, it sets up a number of drug extermination projects to foster people’s awareness of the need to end drug abuse.

Week for Preventing Drug Abuse, Drug Abuse Prevention Month for Juveniles and Nationwide Moth Against Juvenile Delinquency are some examples. Furthermore, The Singapore government introduces large buses, Drug abuse preventing caravan cars and drug abuse prevention PR cars for the public. These buses the provides audiovisual tea material, such as educational video tapes, pamphlets, PR panels, games developed for small computers.

Apart from publicity education, the Singapore government also put much effort on improving guidance at school for preventing drug abuse. In the junior and high school education, drug abuse classes would be held at least three time per year. It makes sure that the youngsters in Singapore have sufficient opportunities to receive information about drug abuse. For implementing effective drug prevention class in school, there are many organize seminars held by the national prefectural governments for schoolteachers.

Schoolteachers could obtain effective guidance and improvement in tea methods and the successful drug abuse prevention would be achieved in schooling. In addition, the government conducts surveys and analyses on a regular basis for students. From the experience and opinion of students, the drug prevention classes could be reviewed and improved from time to time.

UNODC is a global leader in the fight against illicit drugs and international crime. Established in 1997 through a merger between the United Nations Drug Control Program and the Centre for International Crime Prevention. UNDCO organizes different kinds of programs in drug abuse prevention. Family skills training programs in drug abuse prevention and PEER TO PEER strategies drug abuse prevention.

For family skill training program, it targets the whole family and offer skills-building for parents on monitoring and supervision of children’s activities, communication and setting age appropriate limits. For PEER TO PEER strategies drug abuse prevention, it uses the same age or same background educator to convey anti- drug messages to young people. Young people tend to listen and communication to their peer and therefore peer is suitable for infusing the drug abuse prevention to young people.

Recommendations and action plan

Conclusion

References

Narcotics Division, Security Bureau. (2010). Trial Scheme on School Drug Testing in Tai Po District. Retrieved from

Narcotics Division, Security Bureau. (2015).The Three-year Plan on Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Hong Kong (2015 - 2017). Retrieved from

Dealing with addiction: Japan's drug problem. (n.d.). Retrieved from

Prevention|Nation Institute on Drug Abuse. (n.d.). Retrieved from

ADAPT:Education. (n.d.). ADAPT:Education and training. Retrieved from

Hong Kong’s Information Services Department. (June19, 2015). Drug abuse falls 11%. news Gov. Retrieved from

Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Hong Kong Sixth Three-year Plan. (2014). Government. Retrieved from




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