KUCHING: The state government raised the red-flag on drug abuse, particularly on syabu, as the amount seized by the authorities tripled last year compared to 2016.
Stressing on the need to intensify efforts in the war against drug abuse, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said 28kg of syabu were seized last year compared to 9.3kg in 2016.
Karim said based on information he received from the police and the National Anti Drugs Agency, more than 10,000 addicts were recorded last year and most of them were aged between 25 and 40.
“Based on the date we received from the authorities, the supply and use of synthetic drugs such as syabu is on the upward trend, especially syabu,” he said in a press conference at the Sultan Iskandar Building here.
The conference was held after Karim chaired the State Level Anti Drugs Action Committee meeting on Tuesday.
The number of addicts accoutns to 0.4 per cent of the state’s population, he said and stressed this was a cause for great concern.
Karim said there was a need to counter the rise and one of the reasons to the upward trend is the supply of synthetic drugs to users. Many of them were students or those unemployed.
He also called on the authorities to strenthen its enforcement units and pointed out the number of sniffer dogs in the state for instance was one example.
“I was informed there are only six such dogs, three for the police and three for the Immigration department. This is insufficient for the biggest state in the country,” he said.
“There have been no discovery of drug processing labs in the state so far but why is the supply high ? The authorities need to keep a close eye on entry points including the ports, border posts, airport and even post offices.”
Karim said drug abuse contribute to the increase in crime such as snatch thefts where most of the time the suspects nabbed would be tested positive by the authorities.
He said the state capital here has the highest number of drug addicts, followed by Miri and Bintulu.