Police want drug agencies to take charge of addicts

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: The numbers say it all. More than 59 per cent of the 10,949 drug addicts arrested so far this year are repeat offenders. And more than 40,000 convicted addicts are on the streets.
Add this to the estimated addict population in the country and the number stands at about 300,000.
This number is giving police a headache and they now want this burden lifted off their shoulders.
They are urging the relevant drug agencies to take charge of rehabilitating addicts, leaving the bigger task of going after traffickers and pushers to them.
"Rehabilitating addicts will serve the addicts and society better, rather than putting them in prison," said the Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan.
Musa said the figures showed more than half the addicts arrested and put in prison return to their old habits after their release.
He gave the figures for 2005 which showed 17,419 repeat offenders out of the 32,808 addicts arrested.
"We urge the relevant agencies or departments to help these addicts by sending them to rehabilitation centres rather than having them arrested by police," he said.
"They need time in rehabilitation centres where they will be better treated and supervised."
Currently drug users are charged under Section 15(1)a of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 where they face a maximum fine of RM5,000.
Most of them pay the fine and are placed under police supervision for two years. This only adds to the current addict population on the streets.
Musa has now directed the Federal Narcotics Crime Investigation Department to identify areas addicts frequent so that they can be rounded up and sent to rehabilitation centres.
The number of inmates at the National Anti-Drug Agency (Nada) centres now stands at 5,000 compared to 10,000 three years ago.
Musa was speaking to reporters after the closing of the Third Malaysia-Thai Police Joint Narcotics Course at the Police College in Cheras yesterday.
"The main drug scourge facing the country now are designer drugs such as amphetamine-type stimulants and psychotropic pills. There is a decline in the number of heroin and cannabis users because of the effective measures taken by police in dismantling syndicates dealing in such drugs," he said.
Musa said a large number of murders, rapes, robberies and snatch thefts have been blamed on those under the influence of designer drugs.
"These users tend to be aggressive and fail to understand the consequence of their actions.
Musa said checks on entertainment outlets since 2002 to June this year found 11,315 people testing positive for amphetamines and 17,304 for methamphetamines.
The number far outstrips those who tested positive for heroin (2,397) and cannabis (3,146) in the same period.