KUALA LUMPUR: The approach to drug offenders should shift from imprisonment alone to addiction treatment and community-based aftercare to ease prison overcrowding and prevent former inmates from relapsing, experts say.
Universiti Malaya (UM) Faculty of Law senior lecturer and criminologist Dr Haezreena Begum Abdul Hamid said the distinction between drug users who need treatment and drug traffickers must be given due attention, as addiction is a health problem that requires appropriate intervention, including harm reduction.
“We need to screen and remove drug users from the prison population. When they are remanded or imprisoned with other inmates without addiction treatment, they will relapse soon after release and this cycle will continue indefinitely,” she told Bernama.
She said about one-third of the current prison population comprised remand detainees, some of whom were held for drug-related offences and unable to pay bail or lacked family support, contributing to overcrowding.
Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail was recently reported as saying that about 75 per cent of the 90,000 inmates in 41 prisons nationwide were involved in drug-related offences, with the majority being unemployed people aged between 15 and 39.
Patron and chief adviser of Persatuan Pengasih Malaysia (PENGASIH) Datuk Dr Abd Halim Mohd Hussin, a former National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK) director-general, said drug addiction was a chronic, relapsing condition, while inadequate aftercare made it difficult for former addicts to maintain their recovery.
He said without continued support, former addicts risked returning to their old environments due to life pressures, difficulties finding jobs and social stigma.
“Families want to provide support, but if they are from B40 households, for example, they have to go out to work to make ends meet. How are they supposed to monitor their children?
“Meanwhile, when former addicts go out looking for work and are rejected by society, local drug trafficking networks will continue to target them because they are an ideal target market,” he said.
Abd Halim said that, apart from strengthening treatment and prevention centres from an early stage, the government should enhance the role of AADK’s Peer Support (PRS) members by providing appropriate recognition and remuneration.
He said PRS members, who are former addicts who had recovered, had the experience and ability to reach out to and guide others through the recovery process.
“PRS members are former addicts who have fully recovered and become functional individuals. They know the ins and outs, and how to approach and guide others in recovery. We need to recognise their capabilities because they are like the front line in tackling the drug problem,” he said.
He said the number of paid PRS members remained limited, with about 30 stationed at Narcotics Addiction Rehabilitation Centre (PUSPEN) facilities nationwide and 54 at district offices. They were paid according to the Short-Term Employment Programme (MySTEP) rates under code OS29000.
He said this differed from the approximately 150,000 PRS members under the Education Ministry and 45,000 members of the Anti-Drug Volunteer Squad, who served voluntarily and were not employed full-time.
Abd Halim also acknowledged initiatives such as satellite prisons in the community, but stressed that greater investment was needed in treatment, prevention and sustained post-release support to help former addicts return to productive lives.