Malays top drug addicts list
Fauwaz Abdul AzizPublished: Sep 16, 2004 9:18 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
Malays comprise 66.14 percent of the country's drug addicts with Chinese and Indians at 13.6 percent and 9.4 percent respectively, Internal Security Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Abu Seman said today.
Malays comprise 66.14 percent of the country's drug addicts with Chinese and Indians at 13.6 percent and 9.4 percent respectively, Internal Security Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Abu Seman said today.
Trailing behind were the 'pribumis' of Sabah and Sarawak, who made up 7.82 percent and 0.36 percent respectively of the total number of drug addicts, he said.
Speaking at a press conference at the Parliament House, Abu Seman also revealed that a total of RM1.037 billion had been spent by the government between 1994 and 2003 on rehabilitation programmes for drug addicts nation-wide.
The statistics provided by the parliamentary secretary had earlier been used by him in the House to reply to a question by Ismail Noh (PAS - Pasir Mas) who wanted to know the number of drug addicts in the country,
The statistics provided by the ministry's National Drug Agency (NDA) also showed that as of this June, there were a total of 26,739 drug addicts in the country presently with 13,321 of them being new cases of addiction and the rest relapses.
The total number of drug addicts registered at the end of last year was 36,996.
A state-by-state profiling of drug addiction cases within the last six months showed Kuala Lumpur to have the most number of addicts at 17 percent followed by Pulau Pinang (16.39 percent), and Sabah (11.79 percent).
Kelantan was fourth with 2,769 cases (10.36 percent).
New Act
On the high number of relapse cases despite drug rehabilitation programmes, Abu Seman said the ministry hoped the matter would be tackled by the National Anti-Drug Agency Act (2004) which is now before the Dewan Negara.
The Act will be enforced by a newly-established National Anti-Drug Agency whose sole focus would be to tackle the drug problem comprehensively and at all levels.
"The act has already been passed by the Dewan Rakyat, and will be presented to the Senators during the current parliamentary session. Once this agency has been established, it will concentrate on all cases dealing with drugs."
Speaking later to malaysiakini, Abu Seman said current anti-drug prevention efforts and enforcement operations were divided respectively between the NDA and the police.
He said once the National Anti-Drug Agency Act was passed, both prevention and enforcement efforts would be spearheaded by the new agency.
Its efforts would include awareness campaigns besides educating the public on its role in the drug war.
"We will also be educating parents and society at large because (Malaysian) society tends to marginalise drug addicts, something which occurs even among family members," said Abu Seman.
Trailing behind were the 'pribumis' of Sabah and Sarawak, who made up 7.82 percent and 0.36 percent respectively of the total number of drug addicts, he said.
Speaking at a press conference at the Parliament House, Abu Seman also revealed that a total of RM1.037 billion had been spent by the government between 1994 and 2003 on rehabilitation programmes for drug addicts nation-wide.
The statistics provided by the parliamentary secretary had earlier been used by him in the House to reply to a question by Ismail Noh (PAS - Pasir Mas) who wanted to know the number of drug addicts in the country, The statistics provided by the ministry's National Drug Agency (NDA) also showed that as of this June, there were a total of 26,739 drug addicts in the country presently with 13,321 of them being new cases of addiction and the rest relapses.
The total number of drug addicts registered at the end of last year was 36,996.
A state-by-state profiling of drug addiction cases within the last six months showed Kuala Lumpur to have the most number of addicts at 17 percent followed by Pulau Pinang (16.39 percent), and Sabah (11.79 percent).
Kelantan was fourth with 2,769 cases (10.36 percent).
New Act
On the high number of relapse cases despite drug rehabilitation programmes, Abu Seman said the ministry hoped the matter would be tackled by the National Anti-Drug Agency Act (2004) which is now before the Dewan Negara.
The Act will be enforced by a newly-established National Anti-Drug Agency whose sole focus would be to tackle the drug problem comprehensively and at all levels.
"The act has already been passed by the Dewan Rakyat, and will be presented to the Senators during the current parliamentary session. Once this agency has been established, it will concentrate on all cases dealing with drugs."
Speaking later to malaysiakini, Abu Seman said current anti-drug prevention efforts and enforcement operations were divided respectively between the NDA and the police.
He said once the National Anti-Drug Agency Act was passed, both prevention and enforcement efforts would be spearheaded by the new agency.
Its efforts would include awareness campaigns besides educating the public on its role in the drug war.
"We will also be educating parents and society at large because (Malaysian) society tends to marginalise drug addicts, something which occurs even among family members," said Abu Seman.
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