Azalina: Drug addicts getting younger

NST: The country’s drug addicts are getting younger. Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said said that nearly seven out of the 10 drug addicts in the country were those in the 13 to 39 age bracket.
"I know that you think it is ‘cool’, ‘happening’ to take drugs. Don’t think that I don’t know of your habits of taking drugs in discotheques. I know," she told a group of Universiti Teknologi Mara students, prompting a robust response from those attending the launch of Belia Benci Dadah (Youth Hate Drugs) billboard campaign.
The programme is sponsored by Gerbang Perdana Sdn Bhd. Some 2,000 billboards will be put up in public universities and private colleges to remind the young on the dangers of taking drugs.
Azalina also said that 79 per cent of the drug addicts were school dropouts.
"What is really sad is that almost 80 per cent of them are Malays."
She said one of the main reasons why the number of drug addicts among youths increased was because of peer pressure and encouragement to take drugs from their friends.
"They (youths) start off with self-rolled cigarettes, then they move on and try Ecstasy pills and before you know it, they are doing drugs for good."