The New Straits Times, February 20, 2000
By Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
THIS week, the High Court was informed of "a significant increase in drug cases brought to court within the last 10 years" (NST, Feb 15).
There were 11,371 cases last year compared to 7,760 in 1989. In 1975, there were 3,122 drug-related arrests, whereas last year the number rose to 14,445.
Since the 80s, close to a quarter of a million drug addicts have been identified nationwide. This number will swell to a million based on the assumption that one addict associates with at least four others.
In less than 50 days into the new year, more reports on drug abuse are reported by the media. This includes the arrest of more than 1,500 suspected pushers in a RM300 million drug haul around the nation's capital (Utusan Malaysia, Feb 2) in 1999.
Also a report that revealed about 85 per cent of known addicts work in small and medium industries.
Yet another is a commentary on the allegation of ganja abuse by members of the national sepak takraw team, which remains unsolved.
Others were about the seizure of codeine, ecstasy, ganja and syabu from gangs ready to distribute them in various areas, including through health outlets.
Then there was the story of how drugs could be easily bought from pharmacies in the Klang Valley with fake prescriptions for benzodiazepines, namely diazepam, lorazepam and alprazolam - all popular among addicts.
Also, a Malay tabloid during the Chinese New Year front-paged a story about pil kuda, a street name for metamphetamine smuggled across the northern border.
Metamphetamine is closely related to ecstasy, which is methylene-dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).
On New Year's eve, four schoolboys were among seven charged in the Ipoh magistrate's court with possession of ecstasy pills and ganja.
There are many more. But these would suffice to show that the drug trade is very much alive. Certain segments of the population - from schoolchildren to health professionals - are still unconcerned about the drug abuse problem plaguing the nation.
Clearly in such cases, the damage is irreparable since invariably all have contributed in one way or another to the worsening of the problem nationally.
Lest we can pull together and unite, there is no way the drug abuse problem can be managed let alone eliminated.
In this context, the theme of this year's National Anti-Dadah Week, "United to Fight Dadah", which began yesterday, is apt and timely. It underscores the urgent message that the war against drug abuse involves everyone.
There must be a consistency of purpose, namely to eradicate "dependence" and addiction to any substance that causes it.
This being the case, "nicotine" which is now well-established as an addictive drug, and often open to abuse, should not be exempted in the scheme of things. Just because nicotine is found in legal products like cigarettes, it did does mean that the addiction it causes is less of a problem, and therefore subjected to different 'standards' of control.
Nicotine is increasingly regarded as a 'gateway' drug by virtue of the fact that most addicts started off by experimenting with cigarette smoking, or at least most addicts are smokers.
Moreover, evidence for the addictive nature of nicotine is mounting.
Firstly, tobacco satisfies the criteria for "dependence" in the International Classification of Diseases - a notion accepted worldwide, endorsed by the World Health Organisation.
Secondly, as early as 1988, the US Surgeon General in a report entitled "Nicotine addiction" concluded that: "The pharmacological and behavioural processes that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and cocaine".
Thirdly, this has been re-asserted just last week in another report by the UK Royal College of Physicians, "Smoking should be viewed as as a drug of dependence 'second to no other'. It reiterated, "nicotine is as addictive as heroin or cocaine".
Nicotine which is as addictive as heroin - the number one drug abused in Malaysia, is still ignored in the discussion to fight drug addiction.
Truly, the theme is an excellent opportunity to re-examine the past, to take a new position and renew our commitment to get rid of the drug scourge.
Till this is done in earnest, many more of our citizens will fall victims, as the stakes are getting higher by the day, and our fragmented paradigm remains obselete. Till then we are all guilty of abusing the trust that the future generations of Malaysians expect of us.
