When Hong Kong opened its first methadone clinic and officials stressed it alone wouldn’t end the city’s drug problem

The methadone detox centre opened at Violet Peel Clinic, Wan Chai, in 1976 was Hong Kong’s first. Officials stressed it wasn’t a cure-all for drug addiction

The director of health called for more treatment options for addicts; the narcotics commissioner called on society to play its part in ending the problem

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Director of medical and health services, Dr Gerald Choa (middle) and E.I. Lee (right), the commissioner for narcotics, at the opening of the methadone detox centre at Hong Kong’s Violet Peel Clinic, in 1976. Photo: Robin Lam Kit

Published: 11:15am, 5 Jun 2024

“The Director of Medical and Health Services, Dr Gerald Choa, yesterday called for a multiplicity of treatment methods and programmes to treat different types of drug addicts in Hongkong where there is a large addict population,” reported the South China Morning Post on June 8, 1976.

“Speaking at a reception to mark the opening of the department’s first methadone detoxification centre at Violet Peel Clinic [in Wan Chai], he stressed that methadone treatment is but one of many types of treatment methods to help addicts kick their habits.

“Dr Choa explained why it was necessary to use methadone in two different ways and why different forms of treatment must be provided for drug addicts.

‘This is because the addicts have different motives and reasons for taking drugs, they belong to different age groups, they have been taking drugs for various periods of time and they take various kinds and quantities of drugs,’ he said.

A man receives a dose of methadone at the dispensary window of the Violet Peel Methadone Clinic. Photo: SCMP

“The Commissioner for Narcotics, Mr E.I. Lee, stressed that the Government and its agencies and the voluntary institutions could not alone eliminate drug abuse and its impact on society.