Malaysians paid over half a billion ringgit to jail drug users in 2017
KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — The government spent over half a billion ringgit to jail minor drug offenders just in 2017 alone and over RM200 million more to arrest and house addicts in state-run rehabilitation centres the same year, a drug law reform forum was told.
18 Jun 2019The staggering amount underlined the huge cost taxpayers bear annually in what experts said is a failed war against drugs that has spanned decades, prompting more calls for policymakers to reconsider its approach to anti-narcotic laws.
Professor Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman (IDHDP Patron), among the biggest advocates of drug use decriminalisation, said today the government could slash its huge budget by two-third if it implements a community-based harm reduction programme.
“There is a huge cost to this,” Adeeba told the forum here.
“But it would cost only a third if we introduce a harm reduction programme that is community-based.”
Today’s forum is part of a long-fought campaign to decriminalise drug addiction in a country where substance-dependency is often associated with delinquency and criminal behaviour.
Harm reduction advocates like Dr Adeeba are trying hard to sway policymakers to look at drug addiction as a health problem that requires scientific-based treatment, which had been proven successful in countries that have adopted the policy.
Harm reduction programmes have been particularly effective in treating heroin addiction, several studies have shown.
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