ALOR STAR: Sungai Tiang assemblyman Abdul Razak Khamis will get details from relevant agencies about findings that the Pendang district has the highest number of drug abuse cases in the country.
Razak said he would hold a meeting with the agencies concerned and the Pendang district officer to discuss the matter.
"I can't comment yet as I need to get the figures from the police and National Anti-Drug Agency and then I will have a meeting between the agencies and the district officer.
"I will have to study the facts and numbers, only then can I comment," said Razak, who is also the state legislative assembly deputy speaker, when contacted. He said the process would take about one or two weeks.
"The findings only mentioned opposition-led states. None of the states under the federal government was mentioned. Hence, I can't make any hasty comment without studying (the findings)," he said.
Sungai Tiang is one of the two state seats under the Pendang parliamentary constituency. The other state seat is Tokai.
Meanwhile, Pendang member of parliament Datuk Awang Hashim declined to comment on the findings.
"I refuse to comment on the statement by the home minister. Those mentioned are constituents of the opposition parties," he said in a brief text reply.
Yesterday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the Pendang district had the highest number of drug abuse cases at 1,333 people per 100,000 residents in the country. He said the data nationwide revealed a troubling pattern in districts towards the north and east coast.
The data gathered was the result of mapping carried out by the police, the National Anti-Drug Agency, the Health Ministry as well as private drug rehabilitation centres.
Saifuddin said after Pendang, several districts in Kelantan and Terengganu, namely Machang, Marang, Dungun, Kemaman and Besut, also exceeded the national average of 432 drug abuse cases per 100,000 residents.