Lam Thye: Time to review laws on drug abuse
The government’s admission that it has failed in its war against drugs is a timely reminder that we must rethink and review all the measures taken so far to address this major social and safety issue in the country.
SIBU: Laws on drug abuse should be improved and strictly enforced in order to see better results.
Besides that, all quarters must do their part to ensure that offenders do not escape the dragnet, said Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation ( MCPF) senior vice- chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye.
“The government’s admission that it has failed in its war against drugs is a timely reminder that we must rethink and review all the measures taken so far to address this major social and safety issue in the country,” he said yesterday in a press statement.
He added: “In the wake of the latest admission made by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi himself, it is obvious that the issue is significant and must be viewed seriously by all the authorities involved and every segment of the society.
“In his opening speech at the Malaysian Drug Prevention Association ( Pemadam) 42nd annual general assembly on Sunday, Zahid said the number of addicts had increased by 14 per cent last year while 58 per cent of convicts in jail were there for drug-related crimes.
“He said the number of addicts in 2016 was 30,847, while in 2015 the number stood at 26,668. As for new addicts, the number had increased from 20,281 to 22,295 in the same time span.”
Commenting on Zahid’s disclosure, Lee stressed that there is a need to review the effectiveness of the current approaches and strategies in combating the problem.
“We must also study why the death sentence for those convicted of drug trafficking under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 fails to deter drug trafficking activities as frequently uncovered by the police and the Customs Department at our international airports.
“We need a more intensified and concerted effort in combating drugs since many young people including school students, drug pushers easily tempt the young by giving them sweets laced with drugs while designer drugs are also easily available,” he said.
He added: “MCPF would like to commend Zahid for admitting that we had failed but it did not mean that we have to give up hope and throw in the towel. Many other countries have also failed in winning the war against drugs.
“I have consistently pointed out that our efforts to eradicate drugs were unsuccessful despite setting the target to make Malaysia free from illegal drugs in 2015 and having spent hundreds of millions of Ringgit so far to tackle the social menace.”
Among others, Lee mentioned that unlike the use of traditional drugs such as heroin and morphine in the past, the authorities now must also pay special attention to curbing the abuse of amphetaminetype stimulants (ATS) -type drugs, also known as designer or synthetic drugs.
ATS are stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine, ecstasy and syabu which are widely used at night clubs and entertainment centres to provide users a ‘high’.
“Since synthetic drugs can now be produced by just learning from the Internet, they must be addressed through close collaboration of various government agencies, nongovernmental organisations ( NGOs) and experts in related fields. We must utilise all available resources at our disposal and be a step ahead of them,” he said.
Towards this end, he said MCPF fully supported the Home Ministry’s National Drugs Policy, which has five major thrusts; namely prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, enforcement, international cooperation and mitigation.
“However a policy will remain a policy and its success depends strictly on its implementation on the ground with the participation of all segments of society.”
He said the government should proceed with its idea to adopt the National Blue Ocean Strategy to implement the strategic plan by combining eight ministries, agencies and NGOs, stressing the need to have sustained and high impact campaigns and not seasonable ones to fight drug abuse.
“Anti-dadah” campaigns should be carried out at the national, state and district levels involving all government agencies, NGOs, employers, employees, schools and parents to ensure that the message reaches the target and is able to instil awareness among Malaysians, especially the youths on the consequences of drug abuse.
“As we already failed to achieve our target in 2015, the government must set a new target to be drugfree so that we can focus our efforts, planning and strategies to achieve the goal within the next few years,” Lee said.
Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation senior vice-chairman