WE read with great concern a motion mooted in the Youth Parliament surrounding the decriminalisation of "ganja" usage. While we do believe there is a need for an enlightened discussion in the public domain regarding substance abuse and addiction, perhaps the idea of legalising or regulating marijuana in Malaysia, in the name of TPPA, is impulsive.

Instead we would like to invite the public to explore the concept of substance abuse and addiction in order to grasp the essence of the issue and take necessary precautions to address them.

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KUALA LUMPUR: In response to the growing drug problem and its complexity, the National Anti-Drug Agency Malaysia (Nada) has shifted its approach from institutionalised rehabilitation to an open approach, thus help reduce drug cravings among its clients by 94.4 per cent.

Nada assistant director (medical) Dr Sangeeth Kaur in her presentation, "Evidence-based drug policies for an effective HIV response: The Malaysian Experience", said the open access services and the setting up of the Cure and Care (C&C) 1Malaysia Clinic managed to shorten the treatment duration, as well as cut costs compared to compulsory drug rehabilitation centres.

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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia may have to decriminalise drug use if it wants to further prevent the spread of HIV, said Malaysian AIDS Foundation chairman Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman.

Doing this would encourage drug users to step forward to be tested and treated, she said.

"We need a more balanced approach to some of these challenges," she said at a press conference to announce the 7th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention 2013.

The event, which runs from Sunday to July 3, will gather scientists worldwide to share the latest findings on HIV/AIDS.

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JELI-based Ustaz Harun is 83 years old and just over five feet tall. When he sits at the front seat of his Daihatsu Feroza, you can barely see his head over the top of the steering wheel.

The diminutive religious teacher makes an unlikely anti-drug crusader but this pensioner, with his ready wit and open heart, is very much on the front-line trying to win back some of the souls who have been overwhelmed by the tsunami of drugs deluging even our smallest communities.

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MALAYSIAN Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) vice-chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye lamented that drug addiction has been the number one social scourge in Malaysia for the past three decades.

In a statement here today, he said the situation caused big problems for the country and the majority of drug addicts appeared to be between 19 and 39 years old.

"It's critical to come up with a more effective strategy towards making Malaysia a drug free nation by 2015.

"The responsibility for battling drugs rests on continuous efforts involving families and society," he emphasised.

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KUALA LUMPUR: It was a day of joy for 128 recovering addicts who were given a chance to put aside their troubled pasts and participate in the preparations for the coming Hari Raya.

Faisal Azlan Ismail, 29, is happy to be able to spend his first drug-free Hari Raya in a decade with his friends at the Sungai Besi Cure and Care 1Malaysia clinic.

"For 10 years, I was on drugs and never got to enjoy Hari Raya by participating in the preparations such as making lemang and dodol," he said during the "Jom Kacau Dodol" programme at the clinic yesterday.

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Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) today called on the government to introduce a policy to help former drug addicts and ex-convicts to get employed in the public sector.

Its vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said this was because they had been given adequate skills training to help them cope and also earn a living after being released from the rehabilitation centre or prison.

"I call on the government to consider hiring these former drug addicts and ex-convicts so that they will not make the same mistake and feel sidelined, just like when the government decided to allocate one per cent of employment in the public sector to the persons with disabilities (OKU)," he told Bernama when contacted here today.

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IT WAS reported recently that about three million volunteers from the National Anti-Drugs Agency and various agencies under the Home Ministry had been roped in to fight drug abuse in the country.

Known as the Malaysia Squad Against Drug Abuse, the volunteers concerned would not only campaign against drug abuse but would also offer treatment to addicts and help them find employment.

Recognising the enormity of the drug abuse problem, it is time for Malaysia to have a new vision, direction, strategy and approach in the war against drugs if we are ever to succeed in making Malaysia drug-free by the Year 2015.

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JASIN: A National Anti-Drugs Agency operation to screen suspected drug addicts in Kampung Serkam Pantai here early yesterday morning turned ugly when more than 100 villagers tried to stop youths from being picked up for urine tests.

At 1am, about 20 officers accompanied by several Rela members swooped in on several youths loitering at a suspected drug haunt in the village.

The officers questioned some 10 youths, in their early 20s, and demanded to see their identity cards.

However, a commotion broke out when they were asked to board a truck to take them to the agency's office in Ayer Keroh to undergo urine tests.

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MALACCA: An operation by the state National Anti-Dadah Agency (AADK) to weed out drug addicts in Serkam drew heat from hostile villagers and a local assemblyman even tried to prevent the suspects from being taken for a urine test. Serkan assemblyman Ghazale Mohamad told the agency's officers that he would report the matter to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam.

The commotion started when the authorities confiscated the MyKad of six suspected addicts from Serkam Pantai, who refused to follow AADK officers to the Home Ministry Complex in Ayer Keroh for a urine test.

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JOHOR BARU: A 30-year-old former van driver was sentenced to death for drug trafficking by a High Court here.

Mohd Rizal Mohd Jamil, from Kangkar Tebrau, had been charged with trafficking 766.6g of cannabis at around 7pm on Feb 7, 2006 at the Tebrau industrial area in Kangkar Tebrau, Plentong.

High Court Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh said the defence had failed to cast reasonable doubt over the prosecution's case.

In his judgement, he accepted the evidence tendered by the police over the drugs, which had been found in the car Mohd Rizal had been driving.

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Kuala Lumpur: The low-fare promotions mounted by airline companies in the country have not only lured frequent travellers, but also international drug syndicates to use Malaysia as their transit point.

Narcotics Crime Investigation Department Director, Datuk Zul Hasnan Najib Baharuddin, said the syndicates had been taking advantage of the low air fares to get foreign nationals in the country to smuggle out the drugs for them.

"The drugs were brought in from other countries and the syndicates would then hire foreign nationals staying in the country to take the drugs out, using the low fares offered by the airlines," he told a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters, here, Friday.

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KUALA LUMPUR - There is an urgent need to have a paradigm shift in the venue for treating dadah addicts from the present rehabilitation centres to mosques and other places of worship, an eminent addiction psychiatrist Prof Dr Mohamad Hussian Habil said today. He told Bernama that the shift would provide dual benefits, in that the addicts would be at ease in the serene and peaceful environment of the mosque and it would also help them to satisfy their spiritual needs.

In addition, the shift would also tremendously reduce government expenditure on the rehabilitation of these addicts.

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I REFER to the suggestion by Abdul Razak Abu Samah of Bohor, Pahang, that we should "Cast away drug addicts on a rehabilitation island" (NST, Dec 8). I have my reservations about the writer's suggestion. I think it is unwise for anyone to believe that hardcore drug addicts can be rehabilitated by putting them away on remote islands.

They are sick and desperate human beings. They would kill their own mother just to get money to support their habit.

But they are also not livestock that could be left to fend for themselves on remote islands. Most of them are walking skeletons with HIV or AIDS, and dying a slow death.

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A court in Kuala Lumpur sentenced two Indonesians to death by hanging for marijuana dealing on Friday. Drug crimes are punishable by death in the country.

Mohammad Idris (32) and Zainuddin (40), both from Aceh, were caught trying to sell marijuana at a kiosk in the city in September last year. Local police confiscated 5.7 kilograms of marijuana from them.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty in the charges, claiming they were told by a man call Yan to deliver a bag to the kiosk, and denied knowing what was inside the bag.

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KUANTAN: They mostly hang out in the dark alleys and quiet streets during the night.

But when daylight comes, some of these drug addicts head to a "drop-in" centre in the heart of town for a proper morning shower and meal.

The centre is run by Drug Intervention Community, or DIC, a non-governmental organisation that has taken a soft approach in getting drug addicts to kick their habit.

Every day, except weekends, a group of nearly 20 addicts would voluntarily gather at the centre.

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Kota Kinabalu: Police are worried that at least one student ends up being caught for drugs every month here.

In light of this, Acting City Police Chief, Supt Rowell Marong said police are going the extra mile to work with schools and higher learning institutions to stem the problem.

He said drug dealers targeted students because they were easier to influence. "Youths are favourite picks for drug dealers to be potential customers because they are vulnerable," he said, adding police detained five drug addicts on average daily.

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PASIR MAS: An undercover narcotics policeman was shot during an operation to nab two peddlers at a restaurant along Jalan Pasir Mas-Rantau Panjang here.

L/Kpl Muhammad Hairi Yusoff ducked in time and the bullet grazed the back of his head.

He was with a team of officers conducting a sting on drug peddlers on Sunday night.

Two suspects arrived in a Proton Waja and met the "buyers" at the restaurant here, near the Rantau Panjang border town.

While "negotiations" to purchase some amphetamine pills were going on, the suspects became suspicious and L/Kpl Hairi tried to arrest them.

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JOHOR BARU: A car wash attendant and welder were given the death sentence by a High Court here for trafficking in more than 6kg of cannabis.

K. Nanda Kumar and M. Poobalan, both 31, were found guilty of trafficking in the drug in front of a hotel in Taman Ungku Tun Aminah here at about 8pm on Aug 24, 2002.

The two had met an undercover police officer to discuss a drug deal before they were arrested.

The defence said the drugs were brought to the crime scene in a lorry by someone else. Both denied any involvement in the drug deal.

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Tuaran: Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor said statistics from the National Drugs Information System (NADI) showed that most of the drug addicts detected in Sabah are married men. They are among 97.7 per cent of the male addicts throughout the country.

In this respect, Hajiji regretted that drug addict husbands on Syabu are often more aggressive and violent, thereby exposing their wives and children to imminent danger.

He hoped the people would respond positively to the programmes organised by the National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK), such as parenting and religious talks, and futsal competitions for local youths in five mukims, could help deviate public attention to the drug scourge.

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