No letdown in war against drug abuse
KUCHING: The government’s efforts to combat drugs all these years have not brought a major decrease in drug abuse cases or kept the country free from drug abuse.
In acknowledging this yesterday, Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof assured that that the government would not be disheartened but keep up its antidrug campaigns to make the country drug free.
“We call upon people from all social strata to work closely together to keep drug abuse at bay. We need to constantly remind the community of the consequences of using drugs,” he told a news conference after launching the Anti-Drugs Day 2017 held in conjunction with the ‘All-out War Against Drugs Campaign 2.0’ at Giant Supermarket in Samariang here.
The Petra Jaya MP appealed to members of the public to report to the authorities if they came across any drug den.
He said as many as 1,500 cases of drug abuse were recorded in Sarawak from 2014 to last year involving those aged between 22 and 39.
In his speech earlier, he said 542 persons from this age group which he considered as critical were found to be drug addicts in 2014 and 554 and more than 300 drug addicts from this age group were registered in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
However, he said the state showed a major reduction in drug abuse cases last year at 481 against 810 in 2015.
“In 2014, we had 751 cases of which 689 were new cases and 62 repeated cases. In 2015, the figure went up a bit, registering 810 cases of which 741 were new cases and 69 repeated cases.
“Last year, there were a total of 498 cases of which 481 were new and 17 repeated. We will have to work even harder to bring down the number.”
With ‘War Against Drugs Starts From Home’ as the theme for this year’s Anti-Drugs Day, Fadillah said parents and community leaders must play their role to educate the young and the community on the risks and consequences of using drugs.
He added while concerted efforts mattered, more people should show their concern for drug abuse to create a more caring society.
“This issue affects not just drug addicts but their families and the society as a whole. There were even cases whereby they (drug addicts) did not have money to buy drugs and resorted to desperate means.”