To stop young people from taking drugs, to equip them with sufficient knowledge about drugs and to build up a positive life style, preventive education and publicity is a very important strategy in combating drug abuse.  A series of preventive educational programmes have currently been formulated and promoted by the Narcotics Division with the assistance of the Hospital Authority, the Education Bureau, the Social Welfare Department and other non-governmental organizations.

        This study will examine the effectiveness of such strategies in tackling the issue of drug abuse amongst young people.  Do the current preventive educational programmes work effectively?  Do they deter young people from taking drugs?  Is there room for improvement?    

        In this study, “young people” refers to those aged between 10 and 24.  According to the Narcotics Division, “drug abuse” refers to the taking of drugs without following medical advice or prescriptions, or the indiscreet use of dangerous drugs for non-treatment purposes.  As for “preventive educational and publicity strategies”, Hong Kong’s drug preventive educational and publicity measures are designed to: (1) keep the public aware of, and to warn them about drug abuse; (2) prevent drug abuse among young people; and (3) promote Hong Kong’s anti-drug efforts.  The focus of this study is with regard to subject (2).

        In order to review the current strategies of educational and preventive measures and to identify possible problems, this study will be conducted through (1) a territory wide survey of Hong Kong young people aged between 10 and 24; (2) focussed group interviews with young people and parents; and (3) through interviews with academics and specialists.  It is hoped that this study will provide a better understanding of the issue and will result in recommendations which could be suggested to the authorities concerned.

        The telephone survey was conducted between the 26th of February and the 7th of March, 2008, from 6.15pm to 10.15pm.  By random sampling, 532 eligible young people aged between 10 and 24 were successfully polled, yielding a response rate of 76%, with a standard error within ±2.2%.

        In order to have a deeper understanding of how the young people of Hong Kong and parents get access to anti-drug messages, 11 focus group interviews with young people and 3 focus group interviews with parents were also conducted with a total of 79 youth and 24 parents.

        Interviews with experts and academics were conducted in the period between the 20th of February and the 12th of March, 2008.  11 persons were interviewed, among them academics, school principals, the chairman of the Action Committee against Narcotics Sub-committee on Preventive Education and Publicity, social workers and the chairman of the Federation of the Parent-Teacher Association of Hong Kong Eastern District.  Their observations and opinions regarding the current strategies of educational and preventive measures were sought.

The major findings are as follows:

1.     Preventive Education and Publicity Strategies are a long-term investment in which resource input is of paramount importance for an effective campaign.

 2.   The existing data collection systems cannot effectively monitor the current trend of youth drug abuse – and it hinders the implementation of anti-drug educational and promotional programmes. 

3.     The existing anti-drug educational and promotional strategies are mainly    “information-based” without a holistic approach.  Moreover, there is no thorough investigation on the reasons why young people take drugs. 

4.       Anti-drug educational and promotional strategies should focus on families, schools as well as the community.  In practice, there are problems and limitations to be resolved.

i.           On families: Over 30% of young people interviewed regarded parental influence as the most important means of preventing drug use although over 60% said that their parents had never discussed the issue with them.  On the other hand, some parents interviewed stated that most parents did not realize the severity of the problem of drug abuse. This coupled with the lack of knowledge in medications and drugs, resulted in them not being able to discuss the problem with their children properly. 

ii.                   On schools: Approximately 40% of young people interviewed regarded seminars and activities for anti-drug education in school as the most effective means of promoting preventive education.  There are obstacles facing the schools though, for example, priority problems, lack of information, social stigma and lack of support. 

iii.                  On community: When promoting anti-drug educational policies in the community, different organizations and associations need to coordinate and cooperate in order to avoid multiplication of resources or an inadequacy of services.  The community also lacks consensus regarding the problem of drug abuse and this affects the work regarding anti-drug policies.

5.       From the results of survey and focussed group discussions, the young people interviewed pointed out four essential factors in the promotional strategies for anti-drug education – factual, interactive, multi-faceted and specific. 

i.           Factual: That is fact-based, e.g. providing true life stories of former drug users, explanation about the harms of drug abuse from a medical perspective – which is interesting to young people.

 ii.         Interactive: Interactive learning and outreach programmes from organizations providing treatment and rehabilitation services consolidate the knowledge of drug abuse for young people. 

iii.                  Multi-faceted: Anti-drug education should be a multi- faceted approach, and through activities like drama, sports and multimedia information, enhance the awareness of the harms of drugs. 

iv.                  Specific: Anti-drug education needs to be specific for different groups and communities, in order to formulate specific promotional strategies.  

6.     Over 60% of correspondents reported TV as the major media source for receiving anti-drug messages.  However, from the focussed group discussions, some interviewees regarded current TV related to the topic as over-exaggerated and untrue and thus not convincing to them.   

7.      Young people would prefer to talk to friends when facing problems related to drug abuse.  Research has shown that most young people started attempting drugs due to peer pressure.  It is therefore worthwhile investigating further how this pressure can be put to good use.  

8.      Figures showed that the trend of young people taking drugs across the border was on the rise. With the increasing convenience of transportation across the border as well as simplified customs procedures, the issue of drug abuse across the border is expected to worsen.  In the long run, it is necessary to cooperate with the Mainland government to implement anti-drug preventive education effectively.

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