Let us begin by looking at the big picture: drug problems have recently been getting much more serious among youth to the great concern of the general public. We all want the government to do something about it urgently. In response, Chief Executive Donald Tsang took charge and quickly announced a voluntary drug testing program in schools starting in Tai Po from the beginning of the next academic year.

But when this hurriedly scrambled program was announced, it caused an uproar among schools and social workers. The media and politicians of course had another field day in this dull season when the Legislative Council is in recess. The soon-to-retire Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Roderick Woo also jumped into the political mud pool.

If we focus on the big picture, it is more than apparent that all the drawbacks of this much criticised drug-testing program are all but technicalities that can easily be remedied and improved. Why don't we just give it a try and make it better along the way? Had we made it a stigma, the whole scheme would become totally meaningless when as little as 10 percent of the students refuse to participate.

Because we have been led to misplace our attention on minor details of one program, we have missed the most important point: the present rampant youth drug problems simply cannot be solved just by school testing alone. What we have to do right now is to press for a comprehensive package from the government, and not to dwell on the technical drawbacks of just one component. Yet by our common tunnel vision, we have unwittingly misdirected the attention of our Chief Executive and his team from coming up with the much needed comprehensive package. Are we helping the situation? Definitely not.

Worse still, we have been repeating this same old mistake ever since the handover. Right the first time and zero tolerance for each and every move of the government. We are simply asking for the impossible but we never get tired of doing it again, again and again. This is like drug addiction and it is getting us nowhere but south. Please grow up and grow out of this bad habit now.

The author is a member of the Commission on Strategic Development

(HK Edition 08/14/2009 page1)