State govt want gum, nospan under Poison Act
KUCHING: The state government through Pemadam will submit a resolution to include the sale of gum and pills like nospan as dangerous drugs under the Poison Act 1952.
Assistant Minister for Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the resolution would be submitted at the national level Pemadam general assembly to be held here at the end of the year.
He said the state has made tireless efforts and told the federal government to regulate gum which is on sale in rural areas and in the city.
“We want the sale of gum and pills like nospan to be regulated and enforced properly under the Poison Act 1952 and we will make effort as time goes by ... we want the sale of such sunstance to be controlled like what we do to (control) pharmacy,” Abdul Karim, who is also state Pemadam chairman, told reporters yesterday.
He had earlier launched the state Pemadam women bureau while officiating at the close of a drug awareness seminar at a local hotel here.
Present was Assistant Minister for Early Childhood Education and Family Development Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, who is Pemadam women bureau chairman.
Abdul Karim pointed out that at the moment enforcement agencies like the police and anti- drug agency were helpless to catch and prosecute the glue sniffers mainly due to the substance not being categorised as a dangerous drug.
According to Abdul Karim, the issue of glue-sniffing may not be a big problem in Peninsular Malaysia as drug abusers were more into hard- core drugs like heroine.
“In the state, the problem of glue- sniffing is a big problem for us.. so we hope that the federal government take such problem seriously and look to the Poison Act 1952,” he said, adding that the matter has been debated in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) on several occasions.
Abdul Karim, who is a lawyer by training, said that the state could not do anything pertaining to the Poison Act since it is a federal law.
Meanwhile, he said that the state would continue to organise drug awareness programmes through Pemadam targetting schools, parents and villages.
In his speech, Abdul Karim also called for a holistic approach and new ideas to tackle the problem of drug abuse in the state.
“The problem of drug abuse must be the responsiblity of everyone and not solely depending on the enforcement agencies like the police alone,” he said.