LAWAS, Sarawak’s most northern district, is fast acquiring the dubious distinction of being a playground for drug pushers and drug addicts.

Years of denial and failure to nip it in the bud made Lawas what it is today, Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian told The Malaysian Insight.

The recent arrest of a suspected drug pusher reportedly with assets worth more than RM1.9 million raised eyebrows as he is unemployed.

Baru was quick to dismiss him as “only a small fish”, a dismissal that seemed to suggest the depth of the drug problem was far more serious, and said the major players have yet to be caught.

Furthermore, he wasn’t surprised by a recent random urine test carried out by the National Anti-Drug Agency last month, which out 23 out of 99 students from four secondary schools positive for syabu (methamphetamine).

“It certainly was not a surprise for me as I had been talking about this problem in almost every session of the state assembly since 2011.

“This figure of almost 25% students using drugs may have come as a shock to many, but it was no surprise to the people of Lawas and the surrounding villages.” Baru said.

Baru said the drug problem is so widespread that not only the students are using drugs, the teachers are as well.

Last week, a 50-year-old teacher was found high on drugs when police raided his Sundar home while his two unemployed sons were also in “seventh heaven” with him.

Urine tests tests later confirmed that they were using syabu.

Another teacher is currently on trial for drug pushing while another went absent without leave due to substance abuse.

Minister Of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family And Childhood Development Fatimah Abdullah had also disclosed in the state assembly that “a number of government servants and ex-government officials were caught and involved in drug abuse, possession and trafficking”.

She did not give any details but said that statewide drug arrests between 2011 and April this year showed a gradual increase.

Now Fatimah and the various drug enforcement agencies are beginning to fight and take back Lawas from drug pushers.

A coordination workshop attended by officials from the Home Ministry, the police and the national anti-drug agency met in Lawas earlier this month to find a solution to the drug epidemic there and in neighbouring Limbang.

She said four days of brainstorming had resulted in an agreement on an integrated intervention action plan.

“I am confident this integrated action plan could be the basis of a framework to tackle the drug problem in other parts of the state,” she said.

Baru was certainly thankful that the authorities “have finally acknowledged the seriousness of the drug abuse problem in Lawas”.

He however feels that this fight could take years, maybe even a decade.. – May 24, 2017.