April 4, 2018
SIBU: The increase in the number of drug addicts nationwide remains a sad situation, despite Malaysia having one of the toughest laws to tackle this menace.
In view of this, the Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah believed that the government – especially those entrusted to address these problems – must do ‘some soul-searching on where things had gone wrong’.
The Borneo Post reported today, Abdul Karim, who is also National Association for Prevention of Drugs (Pemadam) Sarawak chairman, questioned: “Are the enforcement agencies inefficient in addressing this menace?
“Why are other countries like South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand not facing the problems like what we are facing?
“They have a sizeable youth population too. Are we too complacent in our war against drug?
“We hope the government and the agencies entrusted to fight the war against drug abuse and trafficking are serious and committed in their cause.”
According to Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) senior vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, the number of drug addicts nationwide last year recorded an increase of 18 per cent over those registered the previous year.
He also pointed out that the number of drug addicts was recorded at 25,992 – 18,440 of whom were new addicts.
Gender-wise, male drug addicts were 24,926, while 996 were female drug addicts.
Lee, who told reporters this during a ‘Family Ride’ programme in Kota Kinabalu on Sunday, said with about 80 per cent of drug addicts aged between 13 and 40, there was an urgent need for society to come and fight this social problem together. -@ybkarimsays
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