Yuet-Wah Cheung

To use or not to use: an update on licit and illicit ketamine use.

Ketamine, a derivative of phencyclidine that was developed in the 1960s, is an anesthetic and analgesic with hallucinogenic effects. In this paper, the pharmacological and toxicological effects of ketamine are briefly reviewed. Ketamine possesses a wide safety margin but such a therapeutic benefit is somewhat offset by its emergence phenomenon (mind-body dissociation and delirium) and hallucinogenic effects. The increasing abuse of ketamine, initially predominantly in recreational scenes to experience a “k-hole” and other hallucinatory effects but more recently also as a drug abused during the workday or at home, has further pushed governments to confine its usage in many countries. Recently, urinary tract dysfunction has been associated with long-term ketamine use. In some long-term ketamine users, such damage can be irreversible and could result in renal failure and dialysis. Although ketamine has not yet been scheduled in the United Nations Conventions, previous studies using different assessment parameters to score the overall harms of drugs indicated that ketamine may cause more harm than some of the United Nations scheduled drugs. Some countries in Southeast and East Asia have reported an escalating situation of ketamine abuse. Dependence, lower urinary tract dysfunction, and sexual impulse or violence were the most notable among the ketamine-associated symptoms in these countries. These results implied that the danger of ketamine may have been underestimated previously. Therefore, the severity levels of the ketamine-associated problems should be scrutinized more carefully and objectively. To prevent ketamine from being improperly used and evolving into an epidemic, a thorough survey on the prevalence and characteristics of illicit ketamine use is imperative so that suitable policy and measures can be taken. On the other hand, recent findings that ketamine could be useful for treating major depressive disorder has given this old drug a new impetus. If ketamine is indeed a remedy for treating depression, more research on the risks and benefits of its clinical use will be indispensable.

Social Factors in Adolescent Deviant Behaviour in Hong Kong: An Integrated Theoretical Approach

This study examines various social correlates of adolescent deviant behaviour in Hong Kong. An integrated theoretical model is constructed which incorporates variables derived from major theories of juvenile delinquency: namely, differential association theory, control theory, strain theory, and labelling theory. Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire administered to a sample of 1,139 students from ten randomly selected secondary schools during early 1986. Path analysis is performed so that the direct, indirect, and total effects of each of the variables can be estimated and compared with those of other variables. Findings suggest that differential association theory can make the greatest contributions in explaining adolescent deviant behaviour in Hong Kong, followed by control theory and labelling theory. Strain theory did not receive any support from the data. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

Ethnicity and risk factors in needle sharing among intravenous drug users in Sichuan Province, China

Abstract Combining survey and ethnographic data, this research examined differences in the risk factors associated with needle sharing amongst intravenous drug users (IDUs) in the Sichuan Province of China. A comparison was made between the provinces majority Han population and its Yi minority. We developed a theoretical framework consisting of risk factors at the individual level (including risk factors such as lack of AIDS knowledge, low self-efficacy, and economic pressure), interpersonal level (having an IDU primary partner and lack of family support), and community level (social discrimination). The findings suggested that the Yi minority group was more socially disadvantaged and had a higher risk of contracting HIV than the Han group. Furthermore, the factors that put them at risk were different to those which affected the Han group. OLS regression results showed that, for Han IDUs, needle sharing was positively associated with having an IDU primary partner and with economic pressure. On the other hand, for the minority group, needle sharing was significantly associated with being male, AIDS knowledge, the lack of family support, and social discrimination. These findings highlight the need for HIV prevention work to target marginalized populations in China, such as ethnic minorities, and to tailor appropriate prevention strategies to meet the specific needs of different groups.

Bring the Subjective Back In: Resource and Husband-to-Wife Physical Assault Among Chinese Couples in Hong Kong

Resource theory constitutes important explanations of spousal violence in culturally diverse societies. This article extends the theory by adding several subjective indicators: husband’s financial strain and the couple’s appraisal of each other’s financial and nonfinancial contributions to family. We examined the role of these subjective dimensions of resource in spousal violence against the backdrop of other predictors, including the husband’s absolute socioeconomic resources, the wife’s economic dependence, and relative resource differences between the husband and wife. The findings not only partly support absolute and relative resource theories but also suggest the salient role of subjective indicators of resources on husband-to-wife physical assault.

Crime and Criminal Justice in Hong Kong

Now that 15 years have passed since the reversion of Hong Kong’s sovereignty to China in 1997, and despite China’s “One Country, Two Systems” promise, there is still a controversy of whether Hong Kong has been able to enjoy a truly free hand in managing its own affairs, or has been subject to China’s covert or overt control. One social issue that is a thermometer of this debate is the status quo of the criminal justice system. This paper firstly describes how official and unofficial crime statistics are gathered, and how they portray the crime situation in Hong Kong. Next, the features of the major components of the criminal justice system are briefly reviewed. Developed on the basis of the common law of the British, the criminal justice system in Hong Kong is one of the best indicators of the degree of autonomy that Hong Kong can exercise in the post-1997 period. The paper also reviews the changes of the criminal justice system in Hong Kong since 1997, and discusses the new challenges ahead for the criminal justice system. The main challenges concern the need of the Hong Kong SAR Government to establish a new instrumental legitimacy of its legal system, and the increasingly violent confrontations of political protestors with the government that undermine law and order.

Yuet Wah Cheung on Steve Sussman's “Perspectives of ‘Functional Failure’”

My immediate reaction to this paper is that it lacks a deep understanding of what drug use/misuse is. It is written from a conservative, treatment-centered perspective, assessing failure/success from conventional social norms surrounding what should be a normal person’s role in society versus alcohol/drug use. Such a perspective equates drug use/addiction with failure, and so analyzing different functional failure associated with drug addiction is just a tautology. Such a perspective is out of touch with the current drug use culture, especially among young people. A lot has been said and discussed in the literature on the longitudinal study of young drug users in Britain conducted more than ten years ago by Howard Parker (a British sociologist), whose term “normalization of recreational drug use” is admirably powerful in understanding party drug use of young people today. Much of drug use/misuse takes place in clubs/parties, and more and more young people, not only from disadvantaged families and neighborhoods but also in more well-to-do families and among working youths, are engaged in recreational drug use. As such, drug use brings more benefits (e.g., an escape from harsh reality in a “postmodern” society in which competition is severe, following conventional rules does not necessarily pay off, and insecure feelings loom large due to the “risky society” young people are living in) than damage due to drug dependence. My current research of the use of psychoactive drugs among young people here points out very clearly that many young drug users do not define party drug use as “drug addiction”, not even drug misuse. They see it as just one of the many bad habits that they have (older people like us have many bad habits too!). While some of them do get into addiction problems after a period of use, many just “abuse” drugs as part of their everyday life, well accepted by many peers, during the period of adolescence only. Many of them quit after they start a new stage of life, or at least are able to en

The social organization of health care in China

Hillier, S.M., and J.A. Jewell. Health Care and Traditional Medicine in China 1800–1982. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983. xix + 453 pp. including plates, chapter references, appendix, and indices.

Gender and HIV risk behavior among intravenous drug users in Sichuan Province, China.

50.00 cloth. Henderson, Gail E., and Myron S. Cohen. The Chinese Hospital: A Socialist Work Unit. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984. xvi + 183 pp. including photographs, appendices, references, and index.

Social Isolation and Spousal Violence: Comparing Female Marriage Migrants With Local Women

22.50 cloth.