KUALA LUMPUR: The government should amend the law linked to drugs by giving the authority to the Social Welfare Department (SWD) to conduct urine tests on under 18 years old offenders.
Crime analyst, Kamal Affandi Hashim said that it was time that the laws related to drugs, especially involving under-aged offenders be reviewed, to determine their effectiveness in the effort to tackle the crime which, until to date, is still the national number one enemy.
‘’I suggest, if those involved are children such as under the provision of the Child Act 2001, then the law must be clear, namely, if there is no parental permission, then JKM officers should be given the power to run urine tests on them,’’ he told Bernama today.
He said this when asked to comment on the outcome of the National Social Council meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to review the effectiveness of the drug prevention campaign among youths by focusing on tackling the social causes for drug addiction.
In addition, the meeting also decided the method of tackling drug abuse must also be co-ordinated with the government’s aspiration to decriminalise drug addiction, and would involve the co-operation of Members of Parliament and State Assembly constituencies.
Kamal Affandi said that under-aged individuals who were confirmed drug addicts could not be placed at rehabilitation centres with adult offenders because they were subject to the Child Act (Amendment) 2016.
‘’The welfare and the implementing process of under-aged offenders, differ totally when undergoing urine test and drug rehabilitation,’’ said Kamal Effendi, who also supported the aspiration of the government to review the effectiveness of the drug prevention campaign among youths because it was in keeping with the modernisation of the national social system.
For the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) senior vice chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye a comprehensive national prevention strategy was indeed needed in the effort to tackle the problem of drug addiction when almost 50% of crimes in the country were linked to drugs.
He said that, in order to curb the problem of drug abuse, it was very important that the government made a comprehensive reevaluation of all policies, approaches, operations and enforcements of the laws related to drugs while every layer of society must play a role in forming a social community.
Meanwhile, according to the statistics in the National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK) website, the number of drug addicts detected according to the status of the cases reported in 2018, had dropped by 5% or 17,474 new cases compared to 18,440 in 2017.
The record for repeat cases last year had increased by 4%, namely, to 7,793 compared to 7,482 in 2017. — Bernama
