Drug abuse and drug situation in Hong Kong in first half of 2025
The Action Committee Against Narcotics (ACAN) noted at its meeting today (October 9) the statistical figures of the Central Registry of Drug Abuse (CRDA) and other drug-related figures in the first half of 2025. ACAN noticed that the total number of reported drug abusers in the first half of 2025 was lower than that of 2024, while the number of reported young drug abusers aged under 21 registered a slight increase. ACAN will closely monitor the situation in the remaining quarters of 2025, and will carry out its anti-drug work according to the latest situation.
Figures from the CRDA revealed that the total number of reported drug abusers in the first half of 2025 decreased by 4 per cent (from 3 055 to 2 919) when compared with that of 2024. The three most common types of drugs abused in the first half of 2025 were heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine (commonly known as "Ice"). The number of reported young drug abusers aged under 21 in the first half of 2025 increased from 453 to 457 when compared with the same period last year. Among these reported young drug abusers, 211 of them abused etomidate. In this group, the most common type of drugs abused was etomidate, followed by cannabis and cocaine.
The ACAN Chairman, Dr Donald Li, said during the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Anti-drug Summit held on September 5 this year, that participants noted the emergence of etomidate abuse in more regions in Asia. To effectively address the challenges of the present situation, community-wide education and publicity, targeting young people in particular, must be enhanced. In this regard, ACAN will continue to actively advise the Government to adopt multipronged strategies, including diversified preventive education and publicity, to protect the next generation from falling prey to etomidate or other drugs.
Dr Li said, "The Government and ACAN have made significant efforts since early this year to combat the abuse of the emerging drug etomidate. The general public is now aware of the harmful effects caused by this drug. However, we must stay vigilant and continue to collaborate with various sectors to remind members of the public to say 'no' to etomidate. I would like to take this opportunity to urge abusers to stop vaping etomidate. Etomidate is a dangerous drug. People should not mistakenly believe that vaping etomidate is comparable to vaping regular e-cigarettes." He continued, "Drug abuse does not reduce stress. It is in turn harmful to one's physical and mental health. Abusers should quit their drug addiction without delay. Those who vape etomidate can send messages to 98 186 186 on instant messaging applications WhatsApp and WeChat, or call the 24-hour hotline 186 186 to seek information or assistance from professional social workers."
The Narcotics Division (ND) of the Security Bureau (SB) will continue to carry out online and offline publicity campaign with the theme "Etomidate - Don’t vape it or you’ll die like a zombie!" to give members of the public a clear understanding of the harmful effects caused by etomidate. A spokesperson for the SB said the theme of the publicity campaign, inspired by real-life examples, aimed to highlight the harmful effects of this emerging drug. Its relevant Government's TV Announcement in the Public Interest (API) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-HbdmfY9eY) and radio API have been launched on various television and radio channels. Other relevant advertisements and publicity materials have also been displayed across the territory. Information about etomidate has been uploaded onto the dedicated webpage (www.nd.gov.hk/en/etomidate.html) for reference by the public.
As for schools, the Government has included etomidate in voluntary drug testing under the Healthy School Programme in the 2025/26 school year. The procedures for etomidate testing will follow that of other drugs, which is that participating schools may opt for rapid urine tests or hair tests. Personal data collected during the voluntary testing are protected under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486).
On the enforcement front, to combat etomidate-related crimes along with members of the public, the Police have set up a 24-hour etomidate reporting hotline (number: 6629 2966). Members of the public can also file reports via the instant messaging applications WhatsApp (number: 6629 2966) and WeChat (account: eto-report).
According to the statistical figures from law enforcement agencies (LEAs), the number of persons arrested for drug offences in the first half of 2025 increased by 20 per cent (from 1 611 to 1 938) when compared with that of 2024. The number of young arrestees aged under 21 also increased by 152 per cent (from 122 to 307). Etomidate, cannabis and cocaine were the main drugs involved in these arrests.
According to court cases concluded for the same period, among young offenders aged under 21 who were sentenced to imprisonment for drug trafficking, more than half of them were sentenced to over five years in prison, and the longest period of imprisonment was over 20 years. The spokesperson reminded young people not to take part in drug trafficking activities out of greed. Otherwise, there will be lifelong regrets. Young age is not a valid mitigating factor for drug offences. A plea of ignorance is not an excuse to avoid legal liability.
A spokesperson for the ND stressed that, "LEAs will combat drug trafficking on all fronts, particularly targeting traffickers who exploit young people. They will not be allowed to escape justice and will be severely sanctioned by the law."
LEAs can invoke Section 56A of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Cap. 134) to seek enhanced sentencing on criminals who involve young people in drug trafficking activities. From 2009 to June 2025, a total of 38 cases were successfully brought to the court for sentence enhancement. The additional increase in sentence ranged from one month to 42 months of imprisonment.
The statistical figures of the CRDA for the first half of 2025 are available on the website of the ND (www.nd.gov.hk/en/crda_main_charts_and_tables.html). The ND's website (www.nd.gov.hk) as well as its official accounts (narcotics.divisionhk) on Facebook and Instagram also contain detailed information about dangerous drugs, including frequently asked questions about etomidate, cocaine and cannabis, for reference by the public.
Source: AI-found images
Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference
Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the CUHK EMBA Annual Conference today (May 9):
Professor Dennis Lo (Vice-Chancellor and President, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)), Professor Lin Zhou (Dean, CUHK Business School), Macy (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Ms Macy Chan), Michael (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Mr Michael Chan), CUHK EMBA alumni and students, business leaders, distinguished guests and friends,
Good evening.
Addressing a room full of Executive MBA students and graduates is both an honour and a privilege. There is a particular kind of ambition in this room — one that is not content with success alone, but driven to understand it more deeply, in the belief that better ideas lead to greater impact.
That kind of commitment — to learning, to growth, to asking harder questions — is precisely what today's conversation is about.
The theme of this conference, which focuses on innovation and agile leadership, could not be more timely. Most of us here have lived through the Internet age and the smartphone revolution, which made communication faster and more seamless than anyone had imagined.
Today, the rise of AI places us at a more fundamental tipping point. Technology is not merely changing the answers — it is redefining the questions themselves.
Consider what is already within reach. An AI assistant can learn your preferences, curate a personalised shortlist, and simply ask for your confirmation. We should even ask whether the smartphone and the search engine will remain our primary gateways to the digital world, or whether something altogether new is already taking shape.
To draw an analogy, the power of technology does not lie in drawing the old map with greater precision. It lies in revealing how much of that map remains uncharted — and in showing us that entirely new maps, with new co-ordinates, are being drawn.
This redefinition is unfolding across three dimensions simultaneously.
First, the redefinition of products. Products are no longer discrete, standalone objects. A smart car is a vehicle, but also a mobile platform for data. An insurance policy can be a contract, but equally a dynamic reflection of health data. Innovation today is born from cross-sector convergence and continuous evolution.
Second, the redefinition of services. Services are no longer delivered solely by enterprises. They emerge from collaborative networks of people and AI. But the more profound shift is in what customers now expect. In the past, good service meant reaching the right person quickly. Today, customers expect a solution that anticipates their needs before articulating them. This requires a new architecture of service delivery: human and machine, with AI handling the scale, the speed, and the personalisation that no human team alone could sustain.
Third, and most importantly, the redefinition of business models. In the past, we sought optimal solutions within established frameworks — when demand rose, we expanded capacity; when service needs grew, we opened more branches. Technology invites us to break out of those frameworks entirely. Intelligent manufacturing means that "economies of scale" is no longer the only answer; flexible supply chains have made customised, on-demand production the new normal.
These three redefinitions are opening a commercial frontier unlike anything we have seen before. But if the benefits of technology accrue only to a small circle, its power remains fundamentally constrained. This brings me to the second message I want to leave with you today: inclusivity.
Inclusivity is not charity. Yet it is the smartest business strategy available. The unmet needs of the broader public represent the largest and most underserved market opportunity in existence. When you make quality healthcare, education and financial services accessible and affordable to ordinary residents, you are not serving a group in need of handouts — you are unlocking a vast market that traditional business models have consistently overlooked.
Hong Kong has a distinctive role to play here. We can be a co-architect of standards, a hub for capital, and a bridge between innovation and real-world deployment — from clinical validation of smart healthcare, to green technology financing, to regulatory sandboxes for fintech. Our contribution draws not only on institutional strengths and international networks, but on our genuine commitment to broad-based participation.
Yet inclusive products and services are only the first step. The deeper dimension is empowerment.
History reminds us that the dividends of technological revolution need to be actively guided to reach the many. In the age of steam, and again in the Internet era, early gains concentrated among capital owners and top-tier talent. But today we have the opportunity to write a different story. AI, as an amplifier of human capability, is already enabling what was previously unimaginable: a solo entrepreneur, with the right tools and the right vision, can build a unicorn.
In other words, the unit of competitive advantage is shifting — from the size of your team to the skill with which you orchestrate your tools.
Our mission should be to make that shift available to everyone. To turn individual readiness into collective prosperity, and to ensure that the productivity gains of AI flow broadly across the society.
This is precisely why, in this year's Budget, I placed such emphasis on the "AI Training for All" initiative.
We are not trying to turn everyone into an engineer. We are ensuring that workers, managers, SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) owners, and ordinary residents become capable collaborators with AI: people who can access it, use it effectively, and put it to work as their assistant.
That may sound ambitious, but consider this: if AI can one day be as intuitive as the smartphone, then mass adoption is not difficult to imagine at all. Just as computers once migrated from specialist facilities into offices and homes, AI will find its way into everyone's daily work and life.
For business leaders, it may be tempting to think of AI as "digital employee" that can replace existing workers. But think of a different framing: equipping your workforce with powerful digital assistants can achieve productivity gains, while also freeing your people to do what humans do best — create, imagine and innovate.
Companies that take those extra steps, and think those extra moves ahead, will find that an empowered workforce is also a more innovative one.
All in all, the power of technology must ultimately be measured by its contribution to inclusive growth. And inclusive growth, in the end, depends on, yes, commercial acumen — but also empathy, compassion, and the conviction that a rising tide should lift all boats. I can see that those qualities live in this room.
I will close with this thought. Someone once joked that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. With AI, let us never fall into the same trap — in our race to price every efficiency gain, let us not lose sight of the deeper value we are trying to create: a society where the fruits of innovation are broadly shared, and where technology lifts not just the fortunate few, but everyone willing to reach for it.
So here is my ask: let us grow the pie together. And make sure we cut it well.
Thank you very much.
Source: AI-found images
Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Source: AI-found images
