Does Youth Drug Abuse Cause Moral Panic in Hong Kong?

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Youth drug abuse has been a problem for Hong Kong, if not States and Canada and many other cities and region. This problem has always been brought about by mass media, namely television, radio and newspaper, and government of that region as well as different political parties. Mass media not only provide the information about the problem such figures, images and statistic data but also expressing their feelings by reporting the news with some sensational words. Government often addresses the problem so as to arouse the awareness from the general public. The government might do it in a way of giving a speech in a formal conference or taking the problem into consideration in the process of policy making. Political parties propose some solutions for the youth drug abuse problem and conduct research in collaboration with some non-government organizations to address the seriousness of the problem. In the light of these phenomena, it is very likely that youth drug abuse problem in Hong Kong cause moral panic. However, I am arguing that these phenomena and the youth drug abuse problem in Hong Kong do not cause moral panic because the criteria of disproportion and hostility do not fit in Hong Kong’s circumstances. After arguing the non-existence of moral panic, I end this essay with an explanation of what is behind these phenomena. E. Goode and N.Ben-Yehuda think that there are five major factors constituting moral panic in a society, which are heightened concern, increased hostility, consensus on aggressors, disproportional responses and volatility in occurrence (Goode, Ben-Yehuda, 2009). I am going to assess each one of the criteria. The heighted concern over the youth drug problem is felt by the society. The establishment of volunteer team and the narcotics division, the research on the topic of youth drug abuse are just few examples of the heighted concern (Narcotics

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