A law enforcement action committee meeting was held on 21st July 2020, chaired by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin. The committee plans to replace the Drug Dependants (Treatment & Rehabilitation) Act 1983 (Act 283) with the Drugs and Substance Abuse Act 2020.

Act 283 provides an opportunity for people who get arrested for drug-related offences to attend a two-year mandatory treatment programme at a Cure and Care Rehabilitation Centre (CCRC) or serve a two-year supervision order in the community.

The CCRC is managed by the National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK) that comes under the supervision of the Home Ministry.

Besides the mandatory rehabilitation centre, which was set up in 2010, AADK has established a new priority that allows drug users and their families to come voluntarily to a treatment centre called the Cure and Care Clinic (C&C) without having to go through legal procedures and free of legal implications.

Voluntary treatment services

This voluntary treatment services are accessible to all drug users, without their having to be arrested and admitted at the centre. The Home Ministry, through AADK, has been striving to provide a comprehensive range of treatment and rehabilitation and support services to meet the social care needs of drug users.

It is hoped that the new Drugs and Substance Abuse Act 2020 will not only increase access to drug treatment and rehabilitation for drug users, but also their families who get affected by the disease.

Drug treatment and rehabilitation should not only focus on treating drug users but should extend to these others who have had a traumatic experience coping with the substance abuse problems of their relatives.

The new law will not rely solely on harsh punitive measures but provide appropriate help as well.

It will change the narration of drug users in Malaysia, and this is in line with the government’s intention to view them as patients and not merely as criminals.

-- BERNAMA

Dr Farhana Sabri is with the Asian Centre for Research on Drug Abuse (ACREDA), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM).