Police kick off second Leadership Institute on Narcotics (with photos)
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The Hong Kong Police Force today (April 1) launched the second Leadership Institute on Narcotics (L.I.O.N.), the one-year anti-drug youth leadership development programme.
Addressing the kick-off ceremony, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Siu Chak-yee, said “L.I.O.N.”, founded by the Narcotics Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Force last year, has nurtured 100 young anti-drug leaders and has disseminated the message of “Drugs? Never!” to about 13,000 students and over 4,000 members of the public. He expressed gratitude to the sponsoring organisations, executive committee members, professional trainers, mentors and the principals of the 20 participating schools for their support which allowed L.I.O.N. to grow and pass on the torch to more youngsters.
Mr Siu said that the Hong Kong Polytechnic University was invited to conduct a research to evaluate the effectiveness of L.I.O.N. in a quantitative and qualitative approach. The result revealed that the programme has effectively extended mentees’ anti-drug knowledge and has encouraged them to promote anti-drug messages to their schoolmates, friends and family members more actively. Based on last year’s training, the second L.I.O.N. will include an additional visit to correctional facilities and a two-day tour to the Mainland, with a view to enhancing mentees’ sense of crime prevention, understanding of the national anti-drug strategies and national development through visiting local correctional facilities, anti-drug agencies and high-tech enterprisesin the Mainland. Besides, mentees will also have the opportunity to participate in overseas exchange programmes to have a better understanding of the impact of drugs on different countries, broaden their horizons, and tell the good anti-drug stories of Hong Kong.
At the kick-off ceremony, the principal of Yan Chai Hospital Wong Wha San Secondary School, Mr Yau Siu-hung, said it was of significant importance that the school, which has participated in L.I.O.N. for two consecutive years, joined the programme. It did not only push students beyond their comfort zones and allow them to grow up, but also created a drug-free culture on campus, making positive influences all over the school. Besides, the awardees of the first L.I.O.N. also shared their experience as they were invited to visit Singapore and exchange views with local anti-drug leaders. They said that the training in L.I.O.N. was an enlightening journey of learning in their lives where they experienced many “first times”, and were eventually able to make breakthroughs and transform into anti-drug leaders.
It is noticed that many countries have legalised cannabis and other dangerous drugs in recent years. As such, Police will continue to facilitate enforcement works and work closely with the public to protect young people from the harms of drugs.