KUALA LUMPUR: On Aug 15, the National Anti-Drugs Agency of Malaysia (AADK) received a new ‘boss’.
There was nothing extraordinary about the appointment of Bukit Aman’s Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Seri Zulkifli Abdullah as AADK director-general.
This is because previously top police officers like former Inspector-General of Police the late Tan Sri Mohd Bakri Omar and former Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director the late Datuk Seri Salleh Mat Som had also headed the anti-drug agency.
Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
Certainly, high expectations will be set for AADK’s newly-appointed director-general, particularly with regard to how he would address the drug abuse problem in this country.
Since its inception, the AADK’s main role has been to fight the drug menace which has been declared as this country’s number one enemy.
Although the agency has been working hard to put an end to the drug problem, its efforts have not been entirely fruitful.
With no solution in sight, public concerns over the drug menace continue to persist.
The situation has become more worrisome of late as there have been cases of people committing murder while under the influence of drugs, especially synthetic ones like ‘Syabu’ or ‘ice’, as it is also known as.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has also expressed her concern that efforts aimed at checking the drug abuse problem have not met their objective despite the large allocations for such programmes.
In 2017, a total of 18,440 new drug cases were recorded while another 7,842 cases reported involved repeat offenders.
Dr Wan Azizah said when her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was in prison, he had come across many prisoners who were there for drug-related offences.
“Drugs have become toxic not only to the addicts but also to their family members and surroundings,” she said.
Malaysian prisons are bursting at the seams, with more than half of the jailbirds having committed drug-related offences such as being in possession of drugs or abusing them.
Many of them had also committed criminal acts such as pilfering scrap metal, housebreaking or bag snatching to sustain their addiction.
The public, in a way, should also be held accountable as it is not helping addicts to turn over a new leaf.
For example, after an addict has undergone rehabilitation at a centre for two years, he is still stigmatised by society.
It is hard for the ex-addict to find employment and he is marginalised even by his own family.
Frustrated, he returns to his old ways. And, to feed his drug habit, he takes to crime.
According to Universiti Malaya’s Centre for Addiction Science Studies (UMCAS) director Dr Rusdi Abd Rashid, recidivism or the ‘revolving door syndrome’, whereby reformed drug addicts return to their old destructive habit, can be controlled if the government changed its rehabilitation strategy by adopting the medical treatment approach rather than taking punitive measures as was the case now.
For example, he said, if only a small quantity of a certain drug is found on an addict, he should be given the option to undergo treatment at a clinic or hospital and not be slapped with a jail sentence or forced to undergo rehabilitation at a centre.
He also suggested that instead of producing a person tested positive for drug use in a court, the police should bring the individual before a special committee consisting of a doctor, lawyer and social worker who can assess whether he is just experimenting with drugs or is a hardcore user who is in need of treatment.
Such a decriminalisation of drug use model has been successfully implemented by advanced countries that have seen a reduction in the number of addicts ending up behind bars.
This model has also led to addicts willingly coming forward to seek medical help to enable them to kick the habit.
Among the countries that have adopted the decriminalisation of drug use model are Portugal and the Netherlands.
In fact, both these countries now have so much space in their prisons that they can actually ‘import’ and house prisoners from their neighbouring countries! Research carried out by UMCAS showed that only25 per cent of drug users really require intensive treatment at hospitals and clinics as the majority of users are at the early experimental stage or abuse stage.
Drug users in these two categories only need to be given counselling, as well as imposed a fine or made to do community work.
Stressing that the decriminalisation of drug use approach was not akin to the legalisation of drug use, he said drug traffickers still faced detention and court action and even the death sentence.
The unique aspect of decriminalisation of drug use is that it gives the addict the opportunity to undergo treatment in a healthcare facility, without exposing them to the criminal justice system, the focus of which is punitive action that can cast a pall over the addict’s future due to stigmatisation.
Often, it is this very stigma that prevents addicts from completing their studies or causes them to lose their jobs.
And, when they languish in jail, they are not only exposed to negative elements but also the risk of contracting diseases like tuberculosis, hepatitis and even AIDS.
Community-based treatment is the best approach to use when rehabilitating addicts and it is something that should be adopted more widely in Malaysia.
Such an approach will enable the reformed addicts to go back to work, take care of their families and lead a good life with dignity.
It is high time our country gave more thoughts to the decriminalisation of drug use approach as previous efforts to check drug abuse have not borne fruit.
AADK can no longer work alone.
Instead, it should collaborate with other parties and work holistically to overcome the drug abuse problem which is getting more serious in this country. — Bernama