Known marijuana users 'tip of iceberg'

Sum Lok-ke

The reported cases of marijuana users increased 22 percent to 427 last year from 2015, despite overall drug use falling in Hong Kong, the Action Committee Against Narcotics said.

Committee chairman Cheung Kin- leung said the number of marijuana users aged 18 or under had grown by 18 percent, but its most prominent group remained those aged 21-30.

Although the total number of known users was only 427 in 2016, it was just "the tip of the iceberg," Cheung reckoned.

"Why do we have so few known users but such large quantities of marijuana seized?" the psychiatrist said.

In a record bust last month, customs seized 131 kilograms of marijuana buds - with a market value of HK$21.5 million - in a Tsuen Wan building.

The discrepancy may be due to marijuana being harder to detect, Cheung told a TV program. Some marijuana products can be mixed into tobacco and is hardly distinguishable apart from its smell, he said.

Cheung said it is a misunderstanding that marijuana is harder to become addicted to or that it does less damage than other drugs. Addicts can suffer from diminished motivation, which can make people lazy and in more severe cases, isolated from society, he said.

A new product known as synthetic marijuana is even more potent and can turn addicts into "zombies," he said.

Although marijuana had been legalized in other countries, Cheung said he does not agree with adopting a similar approach in Hong Kong. Instead, he said it is more important to educate the public of the risks in using marijuana.

He said the average "drug abusing history" - the time from when a person started using drugs to being reported to the Central Registry of Drug Abuse - was 4.6 years in 2016. Asked if he believed the government should implement compulsory drug testing, Cheung said he held an open attitude on the matter.

According to committee statistics, there were 349 reported users of marijuana in 2015, or 4 percent of reported addicts.