SCHOOL DRUG TEST COST QUERIED

A top narcotics advisor says expanding the school drug testing scheme
to all districts would be too costly.

Action Committee Against Narcotics chief Daniel Shek Tan-lei said
schools themselves, rather than the government, should take the lead
if the scheme is to be extended.

He also called for more attention to be focused on drug abusers in
other age groups.

His comments follow a report by the Narcotics Division which said
projections based on its 2008-09 survey suggest that as many as 3,000
upper primary and three times as many secondary students could be
abusing drugs.

A total of 158,000 students, comprising about 20 percent of the
student population of 817,000, were polled. The survey said up to 4.3
percent of secondary school students could be into drugs - an increase
of one percentage point over a survey conducted four years earlier.

Shek said that while the figures are alarming, the situation is not as
bad as in North America.

Nonetheless, it has exposed the "fairy tale" that children from
prestigious schools or with rich parents are not involved.

Shek said the drug-testing scheme, which began in Tai Po schools last
December, is proving a success.

"But it involves a huge amount of manpower and resources," he
said.

Some direct subsidy and international schools are already conducting
their own tests.

Other schools should be encouraged to do the same if the scheme is to
be expanded into other districts, he said.

Education Convergence vice chairman Hui Wai-tin said the scheme had
only a promotional impact rather than helping students quit drugs.

He said school-based drug tests would be more efficient because these
would be tailored to suit the needs of individual schools.

A Narcotics Division spokeswoman said the government has not set a
timeline or a proposal to extend the scheme beyond its existing scope.

According to a Narcotics Division report to the Legislative Council, a
total of 12,349 students, or 61 percent of all 23 secondary schools in
Tai Po, had participated in the scheme up to January 31.