KUALA LUMPUR – The number of drug users increased by 27% in the first half of 2023, Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.
The increase represents 118,820 drug addicts and substance abusers that the National Anti-Drugs Agency (Nada) and police recorded from January to June.
“This number shows that the detected drug addicts have increased by 27% for the period of January to June 2023,” Saifuddin said in the text of his speech at the closing ceremony of a national drug addiction symposium.
The text of his speech was read by Home Affairs Ministry Deputy Secretary-General (Security) Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman.
Saifuddin said the addicts are receiving treatment and rehabilitation at facilities run by Nada, the Health Ministry, and privately-run centres.
As for the most common drugs used, he said amphetamine is the most abused drug, with 69.9% of users, followed by opioids (25.7%) and cannabis (2.8%).
The abuse of psychotropic pills such as benzodiazepine, Erimin 5, and Dormicum has also increased by more than 100%.
Saifuddin also said that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has found that 11 types of new psychoactive substance (NPS) drugs have been detected in several countries, including Malaysia.
Other countries are China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore.
In Malaysia, among the NPS detected is a drug called metonitazene, a synthetic substance similar to fentanyl.
“The World Health Organisation has said that it (metonitazene) has an effect 30 to 200 times stronger than morphine in terms of its analgesic effect. It has also caused 51 deaths in the United States between July 2020 and August 2021,” Saifuddin said. – October 26, 2023