OUT OF DATE BY 5 YEARS: STATISTICS ON DRUG ADDICTION IN MALAYSIA

Number of drug users and addicts registered in 2002

Source: NADI, NDA, 2002

State .. New Cases .. Relapse Cases ..Total
1. Johor .. 1,383 .. 1,079 .. 2,462

2. Kedah .. 2,508 .. 1,457 .. 3,965

3. Kelantan .. 1,645 ..1,180 .. 2,825

4. Melaka .. 151 .. 373 .. 524

5. Negeri
Sembilan .. 648 .. 547 .. 1,195

6. Pulau Pinang .. 2,597 .. 3,617 .. 6,214

7. Pahang .. 830 .. 584 .. 1,414

8. Perak ... 1,438 .. 1,505 .. 2,943

9. Perlis .. 288 .. 117 .. 405

10.Sabah .. 1,765 .. 280 ... 2,045

11.Sarawak .. 284 ..22 .. 306

12.Selangor .. 1,775 .. 1,923 .. 3,698

13.Terengganu .. 561 .. 498 .. 1,059

14.WP K. Lumpur.. 1,073 .. 1,607 .. 2,680

15.WP Labuan .. 134 ... 24 ...158


Total .. 17,080 ... 14,813 .. 31,893


What an unfortunate state of affairs. Lo and behold!!! For what has been declared as the number one or two "enemy of the state", statistics on drug addiction in Malaysia remain a "misteri nusantara". How can the policy makers in the relevant ministries and agencies make their deliberations and considerations based on "facts and figures" collected and analysed five (5) years ago OR data on drug addiction in Malaysia is being classified as under Official Secret Act (OSA) so much so that only the addicts and the trafickers/pushers/peddlers themselves know anything about it. What about the ever growing numbers of Pusat Serenti and the budgets thereof ? If the statistics on drug addiction is obsolete, therefore, statistics on HIV and AIDS prevalence and incidence are also questionable. Can someone out there please enlighten me on this issue.

For the BN/UMNO leaders of Penang, what have you done to improve the lot of the Malays, including the presence of large crowd of addicts for a tiny state like Penang. Keep this statistic to yourselves please.