KUALA LUMPUR: Drug addiction is a chronic disease that requires treatment and rehabilitation, not detention or imprisonment, says Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa.
She said prison is not a place to treat drug addicts and this can impede them from functioning as productive members of society.
“Prison is not the last resort for educating individuals involved in drug abuse,” she said when officiating the Addiction and Forensic Psychiatry Symposium 2023 here yesterday.
Dr Zaliha said a distinct approach from a public health standpoint was needed to provide treatment and rehabilitation to drug addicts.
She also admitted that there were many gaps and challenges that should be addressed between law enforcement and medical treatment for drug addicts.
In addition to a legal point of view, there were also challenges in rehabilitation centres, where drug addicts struggle with withdrawal symptoms, or physical and mental illness due to their addiction.
“This poses difficulties in formulating an effective treatment plan ... (and) also prevents appropriate treatment and rehabilitation from being given, while at the same time delaying the legal process.
“As a result, the disease prognosis will worsen and the courts will become more congested,” she was quoted as saying by Bernama.
Dr Zaliha said the legal system and treatment through a community-based approach can be the catalyst for change.
In an immediate response, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said tweeted that she wholeheartedly agreed with Dr Zaliha and the Health Ministry’s views, that a treatment and rehabilitation approach instead of an imprisonment approach must be prioritised in handling drug addiction.
“In an effort to treat drug addiction as a medical issue instead of a criminal issue, the Legal Affairs Division is in the midst of studying the establishment of a council to review drug-related laws and existing sentences, and to provide guidelines and promote rehabilitation and restorative based approaches in addressing drug addiction,” she posted on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.
