A NEW Act related to drug and substance abuse that will be drafted will enable people suffering from other forms of addiction, unrelated to drugs, to undergo treatment and rehabilitation under the National Anti-Drug Agency (Nada), its director-general Sutekno Ahmad Belon said.

He said currently treatment and rehabilitation for addicts like those addicted to ketum leaves, were not under the agency’s jurisdiction.

“What we are concerned about now is to improve our access to help addicts recover, for instance, from using ketum leaves,” he told reporters at the agency’s Hari Raya event at the agency’s headquarters in Kajang today.

According to Sutekno, with a new Act, those addicted to ketum leaves can be listed under Nada for treatment.

Bernama reported on Monday that Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail announced a draft bill to create a new act related to drug and substance abuse that will be brought to the cabinet in July.

Meanwhile, on the Malaysian Substance Abuse Council’s (Masac) push that the government immediately gazette ketum as a drug under the Dangerous Drug Act 1952, Suketno said the Poisons Act 1952 was adequate to supervise the ownership and abuse of the substance. – Bernama, May 19, 2023.