Perak Menteri Besar Tajol Rosli Ghazali said on Wednesday that only married drug users should get free condoms to prevent HIV-Aids, adding to a growing controversy over government plans to combat the disease.

Tajol said he would oppose a government plan to combat the disease if free condoms were given to unmarried drug users.

"It is okay if you want to give condoms to husbands but if you give it to bachelors, it is not appropriate since Islam prohibits sex between unmarried couples," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

Tajol Rosli also called on the health ministry to review the plan and to consult religious leaders and non-governmental organisations over its implementation.

His comments followed remarks by the state's mufti or religious leader Harussani Zakaria on Tuesday that he opposed the government's plan to distribute free condoms and syringes to drug users.

Health Minister Chua Soi Lek, who last week announced the nationwide pilot project, has defended the move as a "clinical and medical initiative", rather than a moral one.

The needles and condoms will be supplied from October through 20 government and private clinics who will distribute them to some 1,200 drug users.

Malaysia has been struggling to reduce the spread of HIV-Aids, with activists saying the problem is getting worse.