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Lee Wing-Sze

It is 11.30 pm and the night is young. The funky music is throbbing and the sea of bodies bop to pulsating beats. For 14-year-old Ka-yin (not real name), this is what being a teenager is all about.

Then along comes a stranger who tells her: 'Try this!'

Unsure at first, Ka-yin stares at the small tablet in his hand.

'Yeah, why don't you try one?' urge her friends.

Obediently and quickly, Ka-yin pops the bitter pill into her mouth. After all, if everyone is doing it, why shouldn't she too?

Little does the healthy, fun-loving student know that she has just taken her first step on the journey to drug hell.

'Everyone there [in the disco] were taking drugs. Then someone offered me some. I did think about whether or not to try it, but my friends urged me on, so I took it,' she recalls the night at a disco in Kam Tin a year ago.

Her experience is not uncommon among teenage rave party and disco goers.

Indeed, the surge in the popularity of rave parties and discotheques in recent years has brought 'party drugs' like LSD, Ecstasy, ketamine and cannabis to the dance scene.

According to recent news reports, about 28,000 LSD tablets were seized last year compared with just a few hundred tablets over a decade ago.

Despite years of government anti-drugs campaigns, there are still many youngsters like Ka-yin abusing drugs.

Social worker Spencer So Siu-hong from the Kely Support Group says the anti-drugs schemes have not targeted youth who are really in need.

'The schemes might be effective on those who haven't encountered any drugs. But kids who are at high risk of abusing drugs would not participate in those programmes. They are usually hanging around at some underground venue,' he said.

Mr So thinks young drug abusers should be given more concern and understanding to help them solve their problems.

Speaking to the Young Post  at an anti-drugs camp organised by the Gideon Centre junior military school in Sai Kung, Ka-yin says her life turned upside down after she got mixed up with people at the discos. 'It seemed like they didn't need to go home, eat or sleep. They just popped drugs all day.'

Today, she describes the people she met at the discos as 'a group of freaks'.

She started hanging out with the group of youngsters and going to discos more often, and gradually, she not only skipped school, but also stopped going home.

'[Like them], I didn't want to go home and I didn't want to go to school,' she says. 'For a month, I didn't go home to sleep.'

In eight months, Ka-yin had lost nine kilograms and changed from being a healthy teenager into a drug addict.

Her family tried to help, but failed because Ka-yin ignored their advice.  Her school labelled her 'dangerous' after a series of fights with teachers before being expelled.

Luckily, last summer, Ka-ying decided to change as fear finally caught up with her.

She says: 'I was fed up. And I knew that abusing drugs would do me harm.'

Seeing friends around her get caught by the police and sent to the Tai Tam Gap Correctional Institution also made her more determined to start afresh.

She now participates in the Adventure-Based Activities Training Programme organised by the Hong Kong Christian Service Yuen Long Outreaching Social Work Team, learning how to organise and carry out activities.

Ka-yin said: 'I will share my experience and feelings at training camps or other activities and tell people to never take drugs.'

And her message is the same: 'You will regret taking drugs.'



Surge in popularity of rave parties brings  LSD, Ecstasy, ketamine to dance scene