SIBU: The menace of drug syndicates targeting school children to peddle drugs must be nipped in the bud, stressed Assistant Minister of Youth Development Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
“If it is not curtailed early, our future generation can be destroyed,” he cautioned when reacting to a Bernama report that drug syndicates in the country had become more and more daring by using schoolchildren to distribute drugs.
The report further quoted Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar as saying schoolchildren were now being targeted by the pushers as they saw a good market in schools.
According to Wan Junaidi, students were easily influenced because there were those among them who did not know the ill effects of drug abuse.
Wan Junaidi also reportedly said they would identify hotspots in the country and implement prevention programmes.
Abdul Karim, who is Asajaya assemblyman, warned that drug syndicates would use all avenues to make more money as to them it didn’t matter whether the drug users were school children, women, poor folks, rich folks or professionals.
What was important to them, he added, was getting more people to become drug users because more users meant more money for them.
“Parents, schools, NGOs, enforcement agencies and the government must always be on the watch-out for this menace of society.
“They are irresponsible, mean and can be vicious at times. Unfortunately, there are many in the mantle of power who cohort with these irresponsible characters and syndicates and this also needs to be addressed,” he said.
Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye too noted students were being targeted.
“They are getting students to push drugs in school.
“The matter must be viewed seriously by school authorities and parents as well as the law enforcement agencies,” he said.
To fight the problem, he called for more awareness to be instilled among students to keep them away from drugs.
And students must be told to take up healthy activities like sporting events and not drugs, he said.
“My crime prevention clubs will assist schools in educating students,” Lee assured, adding that there are about 5,000 such clubs nationwide.
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