Hang Li

The drug scene of young people's drug use in Hong Kong has undergone several changes in the past three decades. The mid-1990s marked the first and dramatic change as the longtime dominance of heroin began to give way to psychoactive drugs such as ecstasy and ketamine. By 2000, ketamine had become the most popular drug among young people in Hong Kong and had continued its popularity until the early 2010s. The decline of ketamine was followed by the rise of ice (methamphetamine) in 2013, which dominated the drug scene for only three or four years, before taken over by cannabis and cocaine. Since 2018, cannabis has become the latest favorite drug of young drug users. In the past three decades, popular drugs have changed, and the conventional heroin-based system of treatment/rehabilitation and prevention was also changed to respond to the need for service of psychoactive drug abusers. However, the drug subculture among young drug users has not changed. Regardless of what the popular drugs were, young drug users have always engaged in a process of neutralization in which “excuses” are used to minimize the perception of drug harm and overestimate the ability to control or exit drug use.

There is a lack of research directly examining the relationships between future orientation, individualism, prosocial engagement and identity status among Chinese youth. This study focuses on the moderating role of identity status in the relationship between individualistic values, future orientation and prosocial behaviours. The study sample consists of 1817 Chinese youth aged between 15 and 28. Six patterns of identity statuses were identified by a hierarchical cluster analysis. Path analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between the independent variables and youths’ prosocial engagement and the moderating effects of identity status. The results showed that future orientation is significantly related to prosocial engagement, while individualistic value is not significantly associated with it. The interaction of future orientation and identity status significantly affects prosocial engagement. The effect of future orientation is greater for those in searching moratorium and carefree diffusion and lower for those in achievement and foreclosure. These imply that time perspective intervention may facilitate the prosocial engagement of students who lack a mature and committed identity.

Background: The popularity of ketamine use among Hong Kong young people has dropped substantially after its heyday in the 2000s, but the shift in drug preferences from ketamine to other psychoactive drugs such as methamphetamine remains a concern. This study aims to explore the recent changes in the drugs of choice among young drug users in Hong Kong by examining their narratives of risk toward psychoactive drug use. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data from 45 young drug users recruited through treatment and rehabilitation organizations in 2017. Results: The analysis demonstrated how the decisions about drug use are mediated by the risk knowledge and practices of users including their perceived risk and health consequences, their perceived addictive potential of different illicit drugs, and their own strategies in managing drug risks. Conclusions: This study provides insight into adolescent drug use in a changing drug scene by revealing the importance of experiential understanding of risk among young drug users in the making of drug use related decisions. Implications for drug prevention and intervention are discussed.