GEORGE TOWN: More than 60 per cent of drug addicts are taking synthetic drugs such as Syabu, as compared to the ‘traditional’ heroin and ganja.
Bukit Aman Narcotics CID Deputy Director (I) Datuk Haris Wong Abdullah said the current trend to increasingly use synthetic drugs had left the police in a state of worry.
“The trend of using drugs in the country has changed. If in the past, traditional drugs were such as heroin and ganja, today, it is more towards synthetic drugs which are produced with chemicals,” he said.
Haris Wong was speaking to reporters after a working visit and High Profile Policing session with local residents at Taman Iping in Batu Maung here yesterday.
Also present was state police deputy chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Jaafar.
Haris Wong said the trend of synthetic drug abuse was not localised but also a worldwide phenomena as it was believed the drugs could ‘give more energy and keep the user active’.
He noted, synthetic drug use began at entertainment centres in 1995, but its abuse had since spread to fishermen and lorry drivers. — Bernama