The figure of new drug users among girls below 16 in Hong Kong increased to nearly 30 per cent in 2009 compared with 2008 year. Representatives of the Action Committee Against Narcotics told, there were 337 recently reported cases of girls below 16 consuming drugs compared with 262 in 2008.
There is a decline in the total number of noted drug users, which decreased by 2.3 per cent to 13,909 in the large town of 7 million people. The total number of drug users in the below 21 age group decreased by 3.3 per cent to 3,359.
The figures, reported at a meeting to analyze the drug circumstances in the former British colony, recognized that nearly 71 per cent of young drugs abusers consumed their drugs at home or at the homes of friends in contrast to 29 per cent who consumed them at discos or karaoke bars.
The report revealed that heroin is the most common type of drug among the noted drug abusers in 2009 even though there is a 4.8-per-cent fall in the reported number of heroin abusers. Ketamine is the most popular psychotropic drug taken among the young with 53.9 per cent of abusers below 21 age.
The committee told that the most common reasons noted for consuming drugs were to recognize with peers (55.8 per cent), to decrease boredom or depression (51.8 per cent), and eagerness (39.9 per cent). Drug abuse among the young has increased in recent years in Hong Kong, impelling the government to intensify drug education in schools and conduct voluntary drug-testing in few secondary schools.
A government survey consisting of more than 150,000 pupils recognized that one out of every 10 Hong Kong primary schools had consumed drugs or turned to substance abuse.