SARAWAK’S campaign against drug abuse is no longer being managed by the Welfare Ministry.

The state cabinet, in a meeting today, handed over the responsibility to the Sarawak Security Council, which is chaired by Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg.

State Welfare, Community Well-being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Fatimah Abdullah told the press that one of the reasons for the transfer is that drug abuse in the state has reached a critical stage, and the cabinet deems it a security threat.

“It is critical. It has affected a large number of young people.

“Students are heavily involved.”

She described the shift as “strategic”.

“I see it as a strategic move. (With the campaign’s management) under the chief minister, it shows how serious the state views the issue, how committed the state is to tackling it.”

One of the biggest obstacles her ministry faced was obtaining funds for cash-starved federal agencies involved in the campaign, she said.

Fatimah added that an issue often raised by the agencies is the lack of equipment.

“It’s easier for the state to provide allocation.”

She said requests by the agencies for funds “can take a long time, and are often difficult”.

“This is where the state government comes in.”

According to police statistics, there was a 24% increase in arrests related to drug abuse from 2018 to last year.

In 2018, 6,384 individuals were detained, with the figure rising to 8,506 in 2019.

There were 5,077 arrests in the first six months of 2020.

Jasmirol Jamaluddin, who heads state police’s anti-narcotics division, said most drug abusers are aged between 19 and 24.

Almost 99% of those caught are unemployed, while students make up 0.38% of total arrests.

Sarawak Education Department data, meanwhile, showed that in the first six months of the year, 79 secondary school students returned positive results for drugs on urine tests.

Thirty-one of them are in form five, said Munawar Ismail, a special officer in the anti-drug unit of the state Education Department.

Twenty-two are in form four, while the remaining 20 are in form three.

Of the total drug abusers in the state, males make up the vast majority at 94.3%. – July 16, 2020.