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RESIDENTS in a Hong Kong neighbourhood fear drug trafficking is reaching epidemic proportions, with children as young as 14 being used as couriers.

  A dramatic upsurge in the problem has been identified in Wong Tai Sin, a lower middle class residential district in Kowloon.

  The South China Morning Post has discovered a catalogue of drug-related crimes, with the most worrying developments involving youngsters.

  Findings include:    Pharmacies in the district accused of selling narcotics to children in school uniform.

   Children as young as 15 taking heroin.

   Doctors suspected of handing out prescribed drugs to addicts without prescriptions.

  Worried parents having to dispose of syringes dumped on staircases and in corridors of public housing flats.

  Police in the area have recorded a 148 per cent increase in arrests for possessing or dealing in more than five grams of dangerous drugs, compared to last year .

  August and September were the worst months, with 106 people arrested.

  Last year, 276 people were arrested for possessing heroin and, in some cases, the highly-addictive drug ''ice''. The number represented 9.9 per cent of all crime in the district.

  So far this year, the number of arrests is 384 and represents 17.4 per cent of all crime.

  In 1992, 72 people aged under 21 were arrested in Wong Tai Sin for drug offences. So far this year the figure has risen to 98.

  Furthermore, about 70 per cent of all arrests involved drug addicts.

  Concern about the situation has been voiced by the district's Fight Crime Committee, which has made a series of reports to the Action Committee Against Narcotics, a semi-official body that advises the Government on policies relating to drug crime.

  In response to complaints, police have raided two pharmacies allegedly selling psychotropic substances indiscriminately to young people. Three people were arrested and are on bail while the police await legal advice.

  In one raid, officers seized 21,000 pills and 30 bottles of cough syrup classified as Part One poisons which were allegedly being sold to children without prescriptions. In the other raid, 768 pills and three bottles of cough mixture were confiscated.

  The youngsters reportedly took large doses of the mixture as a cheap but addictive way of getting high. Now there are fears that the children will be tempted by harder drugs pushed on them by older dealers.

  The sale of the pills - including tranquillisers such as Valium and Librium and sleeping pills such as Mandrax - and the cough medicines are believed to be in breach of regulations laid down by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board. If convicted of an offence, the pharmacists could lose their licences.

 Valium and Librium are often taken with alcohol by drug addicts. The resulting mixture causes blackouts. Mandrax is sometimes mixed with heroin and cocaine to create a mixture commonly known as a ''speedball'' for intravenous injection.

  District Commander Michael Dowie said he had focused police operations on drugs after taking up his post last October and recognising the extent of the problem.

  He added that much of the increase in illegal activity was due to improved detection rates because of the switch in operational emphasis. However, he conceded that officers faced a serious challenge.

  ''There is a problem in the Wong Tai Sin district. It causes an increase in other crime. Drugs are a priority. It is mainly small-scale trafficking.

  ''In one case we arrested a 14-year-old boy acting as a courier with 400 grams of heroin on him [worth $170,000 at street prices]. He has been charged.

  ''There are also cases of 15 and 16-year-olds taking heroin.''   Mr Dowie said one of the reasons for the presence of drugs in the area was the fact that Hong Kong's largest methadone centre was in Wong Tai Sin. He said drug dealers often gathered outside trying to sell their wares.

  ''We put emphasis on controlling the area since there are primary and secondary schools near the clinic.''   Mr Dowie said the increase in youngsters involved in drugs was a territory-wide trend.

  ''There is approximately a seven to eight per cent increase of youth drug addiction compared with last year.''   He added that 70 to 80 per cent of thefts, robberies and burglaries were carried out by drug addicts in the district.

  To counter the threat to youngsters, Mr Dowie has initiated several meetings at schools in an attempt to convey the dangers of drug taking.

  Documents from the Action Committee Against Narcotics also expressed alarm at the extent to which corruption had taken over the medical trade in Wong Tai Sin.

  One stated: ''Reports were made in May by the Wong Tai Sin District Fight Crime Committee that certain unscrupulous private doctors in the district had been prescribing Part One poisons to suspected drug abusers not in the course of bona fide medical treatment and that a number of drug stores had been selling psychotropic substances indiscriminately to young people to make profit.''   The document goes on to recommend that the Medical Council should look into the disciplinary matters regarding the doctors concerned.

    It also calls for joint action by police and the Department of Health to be stepped up to inspect drug stores suspected of selling drugs illegally, with a view to prosecuting them.



Upsurge in drug offences among Wong Tai Sin teenagers