KUCHING, Sept 4- Malaysia is committed towards achieving a Drug Free Asean 2015, consistent with its national target as outlined in the national drug policy, to create a drug-free society.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (photo) said the country had a gigantic task to achieve the desired target, which was just around the corner.
“On the domestic front, Malaysia continues to face strong challenges in combating illicit drug trafficking, despite the fact that it had been declared as the main threat to our national security over the past 30 years,” he added.
He said this in a statement issued by the ministry Tuesday, in conjunction with the Asean Ministerial Meeting on drug matters held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
Wan Junaidi, who led the Malaysian delegation at the meeting, said huge financial resources had been allocated to address the problem in the form of awareness campaigns, prevention, rehabilitation, enforcement, as well as the application of mandatory death sentence but Malaysia, like other nations globally, was still affected by it.
He said for the first six months of this year, 65,000 people were arrested for drug-related offences while the Malaysian police had seized drugs worth about RM185.71 million in multiple raids during the first seven months of the year.
The largest amounts of drugs seized were heroin (524.3kg), ganja (475kg) and syabu (398.4kg), in addition to RM56.96 million worth of ill-gotten assets belonging to drug syndicates, which were seized under the Dangerous Drugs (Preventive Measures) Act 1985.
Wan Junaidi said currently, more than 40 per cent of the 40,211 prisoners in Malaysian prisons were incarcerated for drug-related offences.
Recently, two special police squads were also established to deal with serious crimes and drug offences as Malaysia realised it needed to strike a balance between supply reduction and demand reduction in addressing drug issues.
On Malaysia’s proactive approaches in addressing drug addiction in the country, Junaidi said, it had a positive impact with an increasing estimated number of 29,498 clients, who came voluntarily to the 1Malaysia Cure and Care Clinics for treatment and rehabilitation services.
The number of clients seeking services at the 52 Cure & Care Services Centres had reached 575,443 by April this year.
– BERNAMA
