Twin problems of youths

THE latest National Health and Morbidity Survey: Adolescent Health Survey 2022 reports that a total of 106,000 adolescents in Malaysia had used drugs at least once, and 60,000 were using drugs at the time of the survey, “MOH: 3 in 4 kids have tried substances by the age of 14” (The Star, May 29).

These figures may be just the tip of the iceberg because the survey was conducted among schoolgoing adolescents (between 13 and 17 years) only, and not a heterogeneous population including dropouts.