Materia Medica Malaysiana

Entry Of New Drugs Leads To Increase In Number Of Addicts

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 (Bernama) -- The entry of various new drugs and the shortage of narcotics officers are the main factors hampering police efforts in tackling the problem of drug abuse in the country.
"The problem now is that there are many new drugs surfacing compared to the traditional drugs," said the Director of the Police Narcotics Department, Datuk Mohd Najib Abdul Aziz in the Premier Debate entitled "Fight Drug Abuse: Between Law and Implementation" aired on RTM1 Sunday night.
He said the entry of new drugs such as syabu and ecstasy pills had led to the rise in the number of addicts in the country.
He also said that there were 3,000 officers and men in his department which was tasked with checking the growing problem of drug abuse.
"There is certainly a shortage of officers in the Narcotics Department, but we are assisted by 85,000 police personnel," Mohd Najib said.
Despite the shortage, the number of addicts arrested had increased each year.
Mohd Najib said that in 2002, the Narcotics Department arrested 98,345 addicts but as of 2004, the number had risen to more than 100,000.
He said the approach used to tackle the problem was still not in order and it needed the involvement of the whole community to tackle the country's number one enemy.
"Our action is still not insufficient, we need a holistic approach," he said.