Ways to detect ATS addicts being sought

Star: PUTRAJAYA: The Internal Security Ministry, the police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers are jointly working to find ways to detect and rehabilitate addicts hooked on designer drugs or amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS).
Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said many ATS addicts escaped the law because it was difficult to detect the use of ATS.
“The drug cannot be traced in the urine after six hours and there are no visible signs on someone who had taken ATS, unlike morphine and heroine addicts who are visibly disorientated,” he said.
“Some of them are known to be only occasional drug users and not drug addicts.”
Abdul Aziz said the authorities were currently working towards finding a solution, including amending the Drug Addicts (Rehabilitation and Treatment) Act to ensure that addicts are rehabilitated for at least two years in rehabilitation centres.
“There are also more drug addicts, including those on designer drugs, within the community,” he said, adding that the ministry estimates that there are over 10,000 addicts outside compared with the 4,000 inmates in drug rehabilitation centres in the country.
Abdul Aziz said the designer drugs make addicts brave, violent, and merciless towards their victims unlike those on traditional drugs.
He was speaking to reporters after presenting contributions from various organisations totalling RM60,000 to the parents of the late Kons Mohd Fakharudin Zakaria, who was killed after struggling with two suspects in Kampung Baru Semenyih last week.
Also present at the event were Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan and Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation executive council member Datuk Robert Phang.
Musa said that of the number of crimes that took place, about 40% of them involved drug addicts and that the number would continue to increase if a solution is not found to catch those on designer drugs.