Is M’sia ready to de-criminalise drugs?

FreeMalaysiaToday: PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has been urged to consider the decriminalisation of drugs as a new policy to better deal with the country’s perennial drug problem.
Several experts voiced support for this radical view and said more countries around the world are beginning to accept that drug addiction is a disease which can be treated.
Many countries have found that treating drug addiction as a criminal issue has failed, and are considering addressing problem as a health and social issue.
“Decriminalising” means that a person possessing small amounts of drugs for personal use does not constitute a crime. Drug trafficking is still considered a serious crime.
Internationally, policymakers and experts have taken note of Portugal, which in 2001 decriminalised all drugs including cocaine and heroine.
Those found with 10 days worth of drugs would not be arrested, but sent to a Dissuasion Commission which assesses the person’s needs and tailors an optional programme for them.
The Portugal case has been repeatedly referred to and touted as a resounding success, with impressive results.
It has reduced addiction, HIV infections, drug-related crimes and drug-related deaths; and more addicts are seeking treatment. It has also freed Portugal police to concentrate on big-time dealers.
Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) president Zaman Khan said he fully supports the decriminalisation of drugs for personal use in this country too.
“Possession of drugs in small amounts should not be treated as a crime. Rather, the addict should be regarded as a patient needing rehabilitation,” said Zaman, a former federal CID director and Prisons Department director-general.
“I’m not supporting the taking drugs for fun, and I’m not saying go ahead and smoke your drugs,” he added.

Change in perception
However, public acceptance was important, and a crucial a paradigm shift in perception must occur for the anything to work, said Zaman.
“I think we are ready. But our people are not making a cry for it yet. You can’t expect politicians to go for this without the support of the community.
“I believe the government is already looking into this possibility, and are just waiting for us to voice up,” said Zaman, who said discussions and debates on this topic were needed.
Zaman said top leaders in the country, including Bukit Aman narcotics director Noor Rashid Ibrahim, are beginning to see that criminalising drug addiction was erroneous.
Years of experience in the police force and prisons taught Zaman that the old ways of arresting addicts and forcing them to kick the habit have not been successful.
“Caning is no solution either. It just drives them deeper underground. And if police are free from catching small-time addicts, you can pay attention to the big-time traffickers,’ he said.
Prisons are no help as there is access to drugs there and Zaman was quick to admit that.
“I would be the last person to deny that drugs never came into prisons. Prison walls are pervious and the drugs somehow came in despite all my efforts to change things.”
For years, medical professionals and addiction therapists have been advocating the use of drug substitution therapy or medical assisted therapy, which Zaman said has proven to effective worldwide.
Zaman said that needle exchange programmes, which was introduced in 2006, was vital in bringing down HIV/AIDS cases in Malaysia.
Zaman found it puzzling that on one hand, the government supports medical assisted therapy and needle exchange; but on the other, still regard drug addiction as an offence.
“That’s a problem. Because addicts who want to get better would not come forward when the an arrest is just waiting outside these clinics and centres,” he said.

Discussions must start
Meanwhile, addiction therapist and substance abuse counselor Chris Sekar said decriminalisation was the right direction for Malaysia to go.
“Anyone caught with a positive for his urine test should be sent for compulsory treatment rather than put into prison, which often just aggravates the situation as there’s no treatment,” said Chris, who is a recovered heroine addict who has been clean for 30 years.
He said those found with drugs on them should be identified as either user or dealer. “If say I’m found with RM50 worth of heroine, I am a user. I have a disease victim. Why put me in prison for two years?”
For years now, Chris said, the world is heading towards more “harm reduction and demand reduction” approaches and it seemed to be a trend that works.
He said the idea was for doctors, psychiatrists and therapists to work on making the addict functional and normal.
“Generally, in the western world, and even Singapore, elements of such approaches are being implemented,” said Chris.
“That would not be an issue if a proper system to treat them was in place to treat the addiction. It’s a disease and that is what makes them engage in socially unacceptable behaviour.”Chris argued that addicts commit crime when withdrawal symptoms kick in and there need to feed the habit.
He said the government must financially support more treatment efforts and allow other groups, including private centres, to work together with the same goal of treating the addict.

Better alternatives
Meanwhile, Australian Dr Adrian Dunlop, an expert in drug and alcohol addition with the New South Wales Ministry of Health, said studies have shown treatment is more on cost-effective than incarceration.
Dunlop said it was impossible not to take notice of what Portugal has done and achieved with its decriminalisation policy and suggested that countries like Australia and Malaysia should begin to seriously discuss it.
Echoing his view, Dr Alex Wodak, the director of alcohol and drug Service in St Vincent’s Hospital Darlinghurst, Sydney, also hoped Malaysia would also begin to discuss the ‘pros and cons’ and evidence of such measures.
“Globally, the ‘war on drugs’ approach has failed. And we should start discussing alternatives, and I feel that that discussion should begin Malaysia,” said Dr Wodak.
“You can’t dismiss Portugal, Switzerland and Holland and several other countries in South America which are introducing new and effective ways to deal with the drug issue,” he said.
“I think we are much better off with health and social intervention rather than law enforcement.
“Law enforcement is expensive, pretty ineffective and is often counter-productive. It has often serious unintended negative consequences like corruption,” he said.
Citing the example of marijuana, Dr Wodak said he supported having the drug regulated and taxed.
“If you’re asking me is it okay to smoke marijuana, that would be the wrong question. The more important question is, should it be provided by a regulated outlet, or by criminals and the corrupt police? The more dangerous we think canabis is, the more logical it is to regulate that supply,” he said.
Dr Wodak said up until 1906, people in Australia could go to a shop and buy taxed and regulated edible opium; while until 1903, Coca-Cola in the US contained cocaine.
“So when we’re talking about decriminalisation, we’re really talking about re-legalisation. Because we’ve been down this path before. It’s not a brave new world but a world we’ve been in before. It’s not as if we discuss about this then the sky will fall in.”