Parents in need of more drug abuse knowledge

Since drug abuse cases have been increasingly found on teenagers in Macau and Hong Kong, a cross-border survey was conducted to investigate the issue.

A cross-border survey suggested that parents were generally willing to shoulder the responsibility to prevent drug abuse among youth, but they had no sufficient knowledge regarding this matter.
The survey was the first of its kind to investigate opinions about drug use in Macau and Hong Kong.
It was initiated by Sin Meng Charity Association of Macau in collaboration with the Public Opinion Programme (POP) of the University of Hong Kong and the Macau Integrated Research Institute (MIRI).
Interviews were done over telephone with 1,000 Macau and Hong Kong parents who had children aged 21 or below.
A press conference to announce the findings was held in Macau yesterday and chaired by Sin Meng Charity Association’s president Melinda Chan Mei Yi and POP director Dr. Robert Chung Ting Yiu.
According to the survey, nearly 60 percent of the respondents believed that they should hold the biggest responsibility in dealing with the drug abuse problem among young people.
Meanwhile, only 26 percent and 24 percent respectively of the Hong Kong and Macau parent respondents deemed that it was the government’s responsibility.
It was found that more than 70 percent of the parents had taken the initiative to discuss illicit drug use with their children, but they seemed to have little knowledge about what kinds of drugs the youth usually consumed.
Although 83 percent and 61 percent respectively of the Hong Kong and Macau respondents were able to name ketamine, less than 40 percent of them could name other common drugs such as methamphetamine, cannabis and cocaine.
The research team said the results showed that “parents are willing to take the responsibility over youth drug abuse and even to talk about it with their children, yet they lack knowledge and cognition of this area”.
In addition,  a large number of the respondents from both SARs said that the governments did not inject enough resources into tackling the issue.
An average of 60 percent of the Macau parent respondents recognised the insufficiency of resources being allocated to social services organisations, intercept the source of drugs, rehabilitation services and also anti-drug campaigns.
A similar result was also found among the Hong Kong respondents.
As for the role of schools, the findings called for more anti-drug activities to be held on campuses, for both students and parents.
They survey also indicated that parents would usually seek help from social workers first if they found their children were using drugs.
Sin Meng Charity Association’s president Melinda Chan Mei Yi said the findings indicated that parents from Macau and Hong Kong shared similar views on drug abuse among youth, and they both responded positively towards the school drug testing trial scheme which will soon be implemented in Taipo, Hong Kong.
Ms Chan also proposed that the two SAR governments should reinforce bilateral communications so as to learn from the other’s experience in dealing with the problem.
As well, she said that the Macau government could consider making use of mass media to spread anti-drug messages and launch related campaigns.