THE move to decriminalise drug addiction should be in place before the end of Pakatan Harapan’s current term, Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said today.

The policy change will require the government and stakeholders to develop different approaches to manage drug addiction as a disease that can be treated, instead of punitive measures using legal action, he said.

Dzulkefly said people must not misunderstand the policy and stressed that it’s not to legalise drug abuse but about utilising a different approach to curb addiction.

“Addicts will be treated as patients (not criminals), where addiction is a disease we want to cure.

“Don’t get confused. This is not about legalising drugs but about redefining drug addiction as a disease,” he told reporters after launching the forum Rethinking the drug policy in Malaysia at Universii Malaya today.

Drug trafficking remains a crime, Dzulkefly said.

More than 30 countries have begun the process of decriminalising drug addiction.

Dzulkefly said research shows such measures do not result in increased drug use or crimes.

Instead, the approach results in reduced costs for the criminal justice system.

Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya’s Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman told the forum that drug users who undergo recovery voluntarily have greater success than those who went to rehabilitation centres.

The dean of UM’s Faculty of Medicine cited research that UM did in collaboration with other institutions, which found that users who submitted voluntary to a recovery process achieved better results.

“The study published in The Lancet Global Health shows that half of addicts from rehabilitation centres return to the habit within 31 days, compared to 352 days for those in voluntary centres,” she said.

In Malaysia, drug rehabilitation centres are established by the National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK).

Adeeba, who is also on the technical and strategic advisory committee on HIV at the World Health Organisation, said the same study highlights other problems at drug rehabilitation centres, such as the risk of HIV infection, deterioration in quality of life, death, recidivism and criminal activity if drug addiction recovery problems are not addressed properly.

“In recent years, drug rehabilitation centres in Malaysia and throughout Asia have been questioned for their ineffectiveness in treating addictions and human rights abuses.

“This study is the first to show significant differences in the rate of recurring cases among addicts detained in these centres compared to those receiving methadone treatment.” – January 30, 2020.