Nearly half of drug addicts are new users

Star: JOHOR BARU: More than 47% of drug addicts identified in the first half of the year are new users.
Department of Occupational Safety and Health director-general Zainuddin Abdullah, who described the figure as worrying, said the National Anti-Drug Agency reported that 13,058 drug addicts had been detected in the first six months.
“Since 1998, a total of 295,593 addicts have been identified, and this makes up about 1.1% of the national population,” he said yesterday at the Prevention of Drug, Alcohol and Substance Abuse in the Workplace seminar here.
According to him, 71% of the addicts were aged between 25 and 29, 89% were employed and 30% were women.
Zainuddin said such substance abuse would weaken a company’s management or administrative abilities, as they had to cope with absenteeism, which would lower productivity.
He added that organisations whose workers were prone to substance abuse would also face costs such as medical and compensation claims as well as a high staff turnover.
As such, he called on employers to adopt the Code of Practice for Prevention of Drug, Alcohol and Substance Abuse in the Workplace launched in May last year.
When asked if the adoption of the code had been effective in reducing drug abuse among workers, Zainuddin said it was too early to tell.
“We will know its effectiveness six months from now.”
On employers’ response in adopting the code, Zainuddin said it had been well received although some were not sure how to incorporate it into their occupational safety and health programme.