Human Writes: Do you see drug addiction as a health problem or a criminal one?

An American study reveals that ‘higher rates of drug imprisonment did not translate into lower rates of drug use’. While in Portugal, decriminalisation has lowered drug use. Not by legalising drugs but simply by ensuring that people like this heroin addict caught with a small amount of drugs do not end up in jail. Photo: AFP

Guess how much Malaysia spends in a year to manage prisoners with a drug-related crime? A figure that is approaching half a billion ringgit.

And guess how many prisoners are behind bars for a drug-related offence? More than half of the country’s 60,000 prisoners.