Home Ministry to decide on decriminalisation of drug addicts soon
PARLIAMENT | The Home Ministry will soon make a decision on the decriminalisation of drug addiction, according to deputy minister Mohd Azis Jamman.
The proposal, which was first brought to the government's attention in 2017, is still being discussed, Azis told the Dewan Rakyat today...
PARLIAMENT | The Home Ministry will soon make a decision on the decriminalisation of drug addiction, according to deputy minister Mohd Azis Jamman.
The proposal, which was first brought to the government's attention in 2017, is still being discussed, Mohd Azis told the Dewan Rakyat today.
He added that his ministry is also discussing treatment and rehabilitation for addicts.
"God willing, we will make a decision shortly," he said during the question-and-answer session.
In June, Health Minister Dzulkelfy Ahmad announced that the government planned to remove penalties for the personal possession and use of drugs.
Describing this as a game-changer, Dzulkefly said a drug addict should be "treated as a patient, not as a criminal, whose addiction is a disease we would like to cure".
He said drug use and addiction is a complex chronic relapsing medical condition.
Mohd Azis said the National Anti-Drugs Agency (Nada) is providing rehabilitation through two programmes.
There is the community rehabilitation programme which provides rehabilitation for 53,363 clients under people under supervision (OKP) category. The programme also involves NGOs and the daily cost of treatment is only RM35 per person or a monthly cost of RM1,050.
The second programme is treatment and rehabilitation in Nada's rehabilitation facilities, and currently, there are some 6,000 clients receiving treatment.
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