Regulate sale of ‘poor man’s drugs’ to prevent abuse

February 25, 2015

Karim receives his official letter as Pemadam state chair from his predecessor Datuk Sharifah Mordiah Tuanku Fauzi. Lukas is at left while AADK state director Wan Madihi Wan Salleh is at third left.

KUCHING: The sale of ‘poor man’s drugs’ need to be regulated to prevent their abuse.

Newly-elected Malaysian Drug Prevention Association (Pemadam) state chair Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said this is because such substances are cheaper and easier to access than designer drugs.

“The government is actually looking at ways to control substance abuse. Other common forms of substance abuse are glue sniffing, which is quite rampant in Sarawak,” the Assistant Minister of Youth Development (Urban Areas) told reporters yesterday.

“I am not pointing fingers, but drug stores or pharmacies should not sell these substances (such as Nospan and cough medicine) to anyone without a doctor’s diagnosis letter or sell it in a very large quantity.”

Nospan (dextromethorphan HBr) and cough medicines, which contain codeine or promethazine, are widely sold at pharmacies, but can cause hallucinations if abused through excessive use.

Through the abuse of these substances, users are more likely to progress to an advanced stage of drug experimentation and addiction on designer drugs such as ecstasy, syabu, methamphetamine and Erimin-5.

Karim pointed out that the enactment of such regulations comes under the federal government.

“They (federal) are sadly not taking substance abuse rather seriously as I believe that they have to deal with more serious drug problems in the peninsula states,” he said.

Meanwhile, Karim said a Strategic Action Plan (2015 to 2020) will be carried out across the state to hold more preventive and awareness events on drug abuse at schools and tertiary institutes.

Pemadam will also work closely with the National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK), police and all district offices to ensure they can reach out to a wider audience effectively.

According to AADK statistics, Sarawak is still among states with the lowest rates of drug abuse compared to Selangor, Johor Bahru and Penang.

Last year, 614 cases were filed under the Dangerous Drugs Act Section 61(A), Section 61(B) and Section 38(B).

A total of 175 individuals were placed under the Cure and Care Rehabilitation Centre (CCRC) in Kuching, while 227 others were under court order for close supervision.

From that figure, 122 cases involved arrests by narcotics police under Section 38(B).

Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) state chief Supt Lukas Aket said there was an increase in drug-related arrests last year with 5,237 arrests compared to 4,248 arrests in 2013.

He said the police and all relevant authorities will address the use of social media by pushers to sell drugs and called on the public to provide the police with information regarding drug abuse or related activities in their communities.