Asia:
Malaysia
Considering
Drug
Maintenance
Programs?
4/22/05
A parliamentary exchange last week between Malaysian Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop and members of parliament (MPs) last week suggested the Malay government may be willing to consider providing drugs to dependent drug users. Experimental heroin maintenance programs are underway in Canada and various European countries, but the notions come as something of a surprise in a country where small-time drug traffickers get a mandatory death sentence and authorities claim they are fighting "an epidemic" of amphetamine-type stimulant (mainly meth and ecstasy) use. The matter arose during parliament's April 13 Question Hour, when members are allowed to address ministers on any matter. MP Baharum Mohamed noted that despite the death penalty, drug use continued, so, he asked Secretary Abu Seman, why not just supply the addicts with their drugs? "I notice that the mandatory death sentence on drug traffickers has not been effective in curbing the problem. This is because drug traffickers want to get rich quickly while the addicts want to die quickly," he said. Instead, said Baharum, the government should supply drugs for hardcore addicts and put them on a remote island for monitoring. Some drug users, he said, prefer to keep using despite the government's most tender efforts. "It is better to give them drugs and let them live their lives the way they want to," he said. Surprisingly, Abu Seman did not dismiss the notion out of hand. There was historical precedent for the idea in Malaysia, he said, referring to the licensing of opium shops in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. "Supplying drugs to addicts for free needs to be studied in terms of its pros and cons although there were licensed opium dens in the past," he said. Not everyone proved so receptive to the idea. "Why don't we just behead the addicts and traffickers in public and show it on television," suggested MP Ismail Noh. "At least then we can see if it's effective." Abu Seman did not directly address Noh's suggestion. Instead, he said it would have to be studied because it would require the law to be amended to allow public beheadings. 12. Media Scan: Debra
Saunders on Student Drug Testing, Brown University SSDP Opens Drug Resource
Center
Debra Saunders writes Student Drug Testing is Un-American in the San Francisco Chronicle Brown SSDP collaborates with the university to open a campus Drug Resource Center
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