Bad habits that begin in a school uniform
HEROIN is just one of a grab-bag of designer, prescription, legal and illegal drugs on offer in Hong Kong, according to those struggling to stay clean at Narcotics Anonymous.
The meetings, held two nights a week at the Canadian International School in Borrett Road, Mid-Levels, attract the young and middle-aged, male and female. Those at one recent meeting recalled mixing drugs and alcohol 'just to see what would happen'.
Youths in basketball shorts and jeans told of the strangeness of entering old haunts such as Joe Bananas both sober and straight. They watched, fascinated, as others stumbled around parties and bars. 'My drug of choice was 'more',' said one. 'I didn't care what it was; I could get addicted to anything.' Expatriate secondary schools, alert to the extent of teenage drug use in Hong Kong, are increasingly watchful over students. Island School, South Island School, West Island School, Hong Kong International School and the German Swiss School are among those which already drug-test students on grounds of 'reasonable suspicion'.
The American International School declares in its policy statement: 'In some cases, the student may be required to undergo random searches and regular medical tests.' Parents agree to the possibility of drug tests when enrolling their children. 'If we're very worried about a child in school we say to the parents: we insist that you do a test,' said South Island School principal Chris Evans. 'One of the conditions of the [entrance] contract is that we can ask for regular testing.' Most employ a 'two strikes and you're out' approach. At the first positive test, students receive counselling. At the second they are suspended. A third and they are expelled.
Hong Kong International School confirmed 'a handful' of students had been expelled for drug use last year. The schools and Dr Wayne Moran say there are problems with urine testing: it is embarrassing, difficult to monitor and the results are limited. Several are considering switching to hair samples.
'When you take urine, you're only looking at the last three days because most drugs are gone completely in three days,' Dr Moran said. 'But once drugs go into the hair, they just stay there.' 'You take about 50 hairs and cut as close as you can to the root. We send it to the lab and the lab cuts the first inch and a half. That looks at a 90-day window, so you're looking at whether they have used in the last 90 days.' Urine tests are also easier to tamper with. 'There are 101 ways: drinking detox teas, pouring something else into the urine, having somebody else's urine with you, catheterised,' he said.
'I had one girl who was expelled. The school policy was that if they had three positive urine tests, they were expelled.
'For her second urine test, she sent somebody else along to give the sample with her ID card - and it was still positive. But, of course, she couldn't say anything about it. She told us later, when she came in for detox.'
