Drug situation in Hong Kong in 2020
Drug situation and anti-drug work
Mr CHAN Chun-ying referred to paragraph 18 of the Administration’s paper and enquired about the public education strategy in distinguishing between cannabis and cannabidiol (“CBD”) (which was a cannabinoid not controlled under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Cap. 134) (“DDO”). C for N explained that cannabis contained numerous cannabinoids, and the two major ones were tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”) and CBD. THC was a dangerous drug controlled under DDO, while CBD was not psychoactive and did not have abusive potential as a drug. To provide members of the public with more information on the distinction between THC and CBD, ND and the Department of Health (“DH”) had jointly issued “Information on Cannabidiol Products” which was available online. ND also made use of its social media platforms to disseminate relevant messages.
Anti-drug education in schools
Given that online teaching had become more prevalent under the pandemic, Mr CHAN Chun-ying was concerned that the Survey of Drug Use among Students (“the Survey”) conducted in the 2020-2021 school year might not be able to fully gauge the situation of drug abuse among students. He also asked about the specific measures for conducting anti-drug education in schools under current circumstances as face-to-face teaching was limited.
C for N advised that ND had commissioned a professional research company to conduct the Survey in the 2020-21 school year. ND had been working closely with the company and would explore the need for extending the fieldwork period for the Survey so as to ensure that a sufficient number of students would be enumerated. Besides implementing HSP(DT) and the “Beat Drugs with Sports” Programme, ND had engaged some NGOs to provide anti-drug training and programmes for teachers and school management personnel to facilitate early identification of and offer assistance to drug abusing students.
Redevelopment of Western Police Married Quarters site
Shortfall of Police’s departmental quarters
Mr CHAN Chun-ying expressed support for the proposal. Noting that the redevelopment project included demolition of the vacant Western JPO Married Quarters block and the existing Inspectorate Quarters block, but nothing about the Western Police Station was mentioned in the Administration’s paper, Mr CHAN asked about the future plan of the Western Police Station. Considering that the provision of DQs for eligible disciplined service staff would attract and motivate staff, the Deputy Chairman queried why the Western Police Station was not included in the scope of the redevelopment project to further increase the supply of DQs. She was also concerned about the arrangement of the existing 10 units of Inspectorate Officers Quarters which was proposed to be demolished, as well as the demand for inspectorate officers quarters.
US for S explained that the Western Police District included the Western Division and the Aberdeen Division. As it was anticipated that the development of Aberdeen would be more rapid and large-scale in future, it was considered to be more cost-effective to relocate the Western District Headquarters (originally at Western Police Station) to Aberdeen Police Station in the medium term. Hence, there was no plan to redevelop the Western Police Station at present. ACP P pointed out that the proposed redevelopment project, which included the demolition of the vacant Western JPO Married Quarters block and the existing 10 units of Inspectorate Officers Quarters for the construction of three JPO married quarters blocks offering a total of 540 units, was believed to be more cost-effective. ACP P added that the current shortfall of Inspectorate Officers Quarters was around 50 units. Having said that, the Police would keep an eye on the demand and supply for Inspectorate Officers Quarters and plan ahead as appropriate.
Other issues
Mr CHAN Chun-ying said that the estimated cost of about $2,020 million for taking forward the redevelopment project to provide 540 units of married quarters appeared to be expensive. He suggested the Administration to provide a detailed financial breakdown, including among others, the demolition cost, the temporary reprovisioning cost of facilities of the Western Police Station, the cost associated with the retaining wall at Queen’s Road West, so as to reflect the actual construction cost for the 540 units. PD2/ArchSD undertook to provide such information when the proposal was submitted to PWSC.