Youngest addicts are from Sabah: Kids aged 8 and 9 years from Papar, Keningau
Published on: Thursday, March 12, 2015
Selangor: Two boys from Sabah aged 8 and 9 are presently recovering from their shameful tag as Malaysia's youngest addicts. This was disclosed by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in conjunction with the national-level Anti-Dadah Day recently."Drug abuse remains a major problem with some of the latest addicts being as young as seven, hooked on drugs since last year. This is certainly worrying," Zahid said.National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK) Director-General Datuk Suhaimi Abdullah said the boys became hooked on glue sniffing after they were encouraged to experiment with solvents by their peers.
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Suhaimi said the duo, from Papar and Keningau, indulged in drugs for few months before their parents found out and voluntarily handed them to the AADK cure and care centre in 2013 and last year, respectively.They are now back in school after three months of counselling, but the boys are still monitored by the cure and care rehabilitation centre."This is worrying. Here, we are trying to overcome teenage involvement but now we have such young kids," said Suhaimi."Many people hold the perception that glue sniffing is not dangerous compared to other drugs.
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"Parents also think they can just stop it without seeking help from the right platform."They are wrong. In fact, glue sniffing is more dangerous than heroin and ganja. Glue sniffing cuts off oxygen to your brain. It can just blow up your brain and kill every single brain cell," he said, adding it was even more dangerous to a young child's brain.
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Education Director-General Datuk Seri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof said that 1,416 out of 48,000 students tested positive for drugs during random checks last year.Meanwhile, Pemadam (Malaysian Drug Prevention Association) President Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum said the authorities are losing the battle against the illicit substance abuse, especially among schoolchildren."We have failed. Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said several years back that by 2015, Malaysia should be declared free from drugs."But we are far from that. In fact the situation is now worse," said Johari, who is also the Kubang Pasu MP. Johari said, though the government came up with many agencies, there seemed to be a lack of seriousness in tackling the problem."The key problem here is no party is serious about it. They are merely following SOPs and no effort is evident in dealing with this situation."He cited how he had been fighting a long battle to ban the planting of Ketum leaves in Kedah, which contributed to widespread drug addiction among students."The processing and selling of Ketum juice contributed to an alarming number of students in Kedah being involved with drugs because the processed leaves are easily accessible."I brought it up in Parliament last year and the Prime Minister agreed to destroy it, but nothing has been done to date. No initiative was taken by the relevant authorities."He said what was even more shocking was, after receiving complaints, he summoned a particular school in Kedah to conduct random urine tests and found several students taking other drugs such as syabu."We received complaints that Ketum juice remnants in packets were found in the boy's toilet and the school randomly checked 30 of them."Six of them, aged 13 and 14, tested positive for syabu. It all starts by taking light drugs such as Ketum."Johari stressed the Health and Education Ministries should play an active role and re-evaluate their plans to tackle this alarming abuse."The Education Ministry should make it compulsory for all schools to conduct urine tests from time to time."If students test positive for drugs, take them for counselling," he said. Whereas, the Health Ministry should organise researched campaigns to counter the current trend of drug abuse."Teach the kids how to differentiate between the type of drugs, their forms and colour, because a lot of drugs today look like Panadol and other medication."He said schools should not just have mundane campaigns like those themed "Anti-Dadah Day" just for the sake of school records and SOPs.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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