60 to 70 new drug addicts recorded daily - Nur Jazlan

There have been between 60 and 70 people in the country involved in drug abuse on a daily basis with most of them having started taking drugs for minor ailments before they became addicted, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

He said the estimated number was based on the record by the National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK), and that the government viewed the matter seriously.

"The government has always been looking for ways to overcome the drug abuse problem among the people in the country, including allocating RM2 million in funds to rehabilitate drug addicts recently," he told reporters after the Pengasih Graduation Ceremony 2017, here today.

Nur Jazlan, who is also Malaysian Drug Prevention Association (Pemadam) chairman, said the drug rehabilitation association which was appointed by the Malaysian Substance Abuse Council (MASAC) to implement rehabilitation programmes also needed to improve the quality of such programmes.

"We will create a system so that the association (Pemadam) will have its own standard operating procedures and not too dependent on MASAC in rehabilitation operations," he said.

Earlier, a total of 68 former drug addicts received their certificates at the ceremony for having successfully completed rehabilitation programme.

-- BERNAMA