Girls' drug abuse figures rise
Drug abuse figures for teenage girls has increased by nearly a fifth in the past year, 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 this week by the Narcotics Bureau show.
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 needed to be strengthened.
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.
This is an edited version of the story that ran in the South China Morning Post on September 9, 2009
