MALAYSIA Kuala Lumpur, more and more young people are slaves to methamphetamines

A diary investigation New Straits Times refutes the optimistic figures of the government: there would be a million drug addicts, with an explosion of consumption among adolescents. Liquids for e-cigarettes, which are sold at increasingly low prices, are also among the expanding forms of consumption.

Kuala Lumpur () – The phenomenon of drug addiction is becoming more serious in Malaysia. This is revealed by a series of articles in the Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times, which highlights the poor results of local policies to deal with the phenomenon. The intentions to follow the path of decriminalization were left in the announcement of the Malaysian government in 2019. In the meantime, however, the situation is worsening, especially among young people.

In theory, official Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) data, frozen in 2021, would show a decline in the problem. Based on this image, the typical Malaysian drug addict would be a bumiputera male over 40 years of age, with higher education and a full-time job, who mainly uses methamphetamine.

But the image offered by other observers describes, on the contrary, an increase in the phenomenon that actually affects the youngest as well. He New Straits Times He stated that drug addicts in Malaysia numbered almost one million, far more than the 137,176 officially registered with the National Anti-Drug Agency (NADA). After all, even NADA statistics show an 11% increase in drug addicts since 2022. And the director of this agency himself, Sutekno Ahman Belon, attributed the decline in the figures recorded by the Department of Statistics to the limited movement of people in Malaysia due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which simply prevented many drug addicts from registering.

Many Malaysian adolescents fall into drug addiction networks. He New Straits Times interviewed teens who reported being pushed by their peers to use methamphetamine for recreational purposes, which ultimately led to addiction. Under the control of their drug dealers, they find they need higher and higher doses of the drug to get the same high and start stealing to pay for their habit. These adolescents also state that smoking, drinking, and smelling glue are common practices among their peers.

The newspaper even reported the case of a seven-year-old boy addicted to “syabu“, as methamphetamine is called in East Asia. Worse yet, many drug addicts who become pregnant pass their addiction on to their children through breast milk. In a editorialhe New Straits Times regrets that the government’s efforts to combat drugs are “largely a posteriori” and do not address the root causes of the problem, estimating that in reality 5% of young Malaysians are drug addicts.

The investigation also mentions that liquids for electronic cigarettes with hallucinogenic substances are sold for as little as 100 ringgit (about 20 euros) per bottle, so that adolescents can raise the money necessary to buy them. Some dealers even sell between 5 and 10 drops of this liquid for as little as 10 ringgit (just 2 euros).

Meanwhile, amnesty malaysia pleaded for clemency for Hoo Yew Wah, a young Malaysian man convicted of methamphetamine possession: abused in police custody and waiting on death row since 2011. Just a few days ago, Malaysia took a first step towards abolishing the death penalty .