Ineffective treatments fuel Malaysia’s drug relapse crisis

GEORGE TOWN – Drug abusers and addicts in Malaysia take an average of only 30 days to relapse into their old habits after they are released from prison or rehabilitation facilities.

This issue was flagged by experts at the 10th Forum on Crime and Policing in Malaysia, which was held here yesterday.

According to academic Prof Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, a commissioner with the Global Commission on Drug Policy, Malaysia is losing the war on narcotics in terms of addiction and illicit commercial trade.

The manner in which addicts are relapsing shows that the present treatments and cold turkey approaches have proven to be less effective than thought, she said at the forum.

There is an urgent need for a rethink on the war against drug abuse, said the Monash University Malaysia campus chief executive officer and pro-vice-chancellor.

“We need a new approach with rational and evidence-based policies to fight the abuse,” she said.

The former chair of the Malaysian Aids Council said that the imprisonment of drug addicts, pushers, and distributors has led to overcrowding in prisons throughout the country.

The data speaks for itself, as out of some 1,300 individuals on death row, around 70% are linked to drug-related offences.

“The alarming statistic is that the majority of those facing the death penalty are in the lower rungs of the drug trade, from addicts to pushers and distributors, not crime lords,” she stressed.

There is a need to pursue organised crime, as they are involved in the distribution, said Adeeba.

Similar concerns were voiced by Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah, who said there are now three broad areas of crime that the authorities need to address.

They are corruption, scams, and narcotics, she said.

She pointed out that the legal fraternity is overwhelmed with narcotics-related cases, and there is a need to formulate a new strategy to fight the social menace.

Among the panellists were criminologist Datuk P. Sundramoorthy, Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation Penang chairman Datuk Ong Poh Eng, assistant commissioner of police S. Parusuraman, who represented Bukit Aman, and DRB-Hicom University of Automotive Malaysia vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Omar Osman.

Strategies for reducing prison population needed

Sundramoorthy, who chaired the session, said that there is a need to reduce the prison population, as the imprisoned community tends to share their knowledge of drug use with their fellow inmates.

When ex-convicts are released back into society, they may return to a life of crime by engaging in new illegal trades. 

They include addicts who learned how to break into properties while in prison. There is evidence to back up such trends, said Sundramoorthy.

Therefore, he called for new strategies to reduce the number of those held as prisoners. 

He also called for more effort to fight online scams.

He added that banks and financial institutions need to work harder and invest more in cybersecurity to fight online fraud. – The Vibes, June 23, 2023