HONG KONG: The school drug testing trial scheme in Tai Po will be carried out only with consent from both the student and the student's parent(s)/guardian(s), Commissioner for Narcotics Sally Wong said yesterday.

Police and other law enforcement agencies will not be informed of the individual, ungrouped results nor have access to personal data of any individual student obtained under the scheme, Wong said after a briefing with teachers and school social workers at a Tai Po secondary school.

According to the newly released protocol of the trial scheme for School Drug Testing in Tai Po District (School Year 2009/10), participation in the scheme is entirely voluntary. Students or parents may withdraw consent to participation at any time during the scheme by written notice given to the school principal. Relevant personal data will be erased immediately upon receipt of the notice of withdrawal. No adverse consequence will follow from any withdrawal.

However, students who are currently subject to supervision under the law, such as through probation orders, community service orders, supervision orders or a suspended sentences are not included in the scheme.

In line with the protocol, students found to have abused drugs will not be prosecuted for drug consumption and will not be expelled from school. However, any other situation outside the scheme, in which a participating student has tested positive or admits drug abuse pursuant to the scheme, will be governed by existing practice and laws of Hong Kong. It also does not exclude police investigation or prosecution of a participant who is found to be in possession of a dangerous drug or to be consuming a dangerous drug, whether inside or outside the school campus.

Wong said police may only be provided only with aggregate, non-identifying statistics of the test results to understand the drug situation of a school to better focus efforts to combat the drug problem. "Police and other law enforcement agencies will not be informed of the personal data of any student," she added.

Two project officers from the Home Affairs Department are also included in the scheme, to facilitate the processing and protection of the personal data obtained.

Under Secretary for Education Kenneth Chen said the government is confident students and parents in Tai Po will widely support the trial scheme, which is conductive to fostering a drug-free campus culture.

Budget for the scheme is about HK$11 million, half of which will go to support programs for students who have been identified as a screened positive case.

Starting today, representatives from the Counselling Centre for Psychotropic Substance Abusers (CCPSA) and various government departments will organize briefing sessions for the 23 secondary schools in Tai Po District to let teaching staff, students and parents further understand the details of the scheme. Each month, approximately 5 percent of participating students from a school will be randomly selected and tested by the Student Drug Testing Team.

(HK Edition 10/20/2009 page1)