Civil society groups in Malaysia criticise ASEAN’s approach for drug-free region - Channel News Asia

• By Sumisha Naidu
• POSTED: 26 Oct 2015 20:43
 
• UPDATED: 26 Oct 2015 21:34
• • 
    

  • • Rather than impose harsher penalties in a region that already has some of the strictest drug laws in the world, civil society groups feel the best way forward for ASEAN is to drop its drug-free ambitions altogether.

      • KUALA LUMPUR: Civil society groups in Malaysia have condemned the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) approach for a region free of illegal drugs by 2015, saying it fails to heed the most recent scientific evidence on drug use and drug dependence.
        ASEAN had hoped to achieve a drug-free region this year. But as 2015 draws to a close, law enforcement officials are still struggling to crack down on the trafficking and abuse of drugs.
        Said Mohd Dzuraidi Ibrahim, deputy director of the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department: "We have our drug laws but … trafficking is going on and there is a … demand in Malaysia."
        People in the region are getting more and more creative in the way they move and consume drugs, to avoid detection by authorities. In Malaysia, for example, police have just seized hundreds of bottles of Ribena, a blackcurrant drink, for containing liquid ecstasy. These bottles are sold at parties and entertainment outlets for RM350 a bottle.But rather than impose harsher penalties in a region that already has some of the strictest drug laws in the world, civil society groups feel the best way forward for ASEAN is to drop its drug-free ambitions altogether.
        At the sidelines of this year's International Harm Reduction conference in Kuala Lumpur, a group of advocates from across the region called on ASEAN to decriminalise drug use and possession. They argued that statistically, problematic drug users are a minority and that criminalising drug use leads to discrimination, drug-related deaths and human rights violations.
        Fifa Rahman, policy manager at the Malaysian AIDS Council, said: "We want to tackle problematic drug use, which is more or less what ASEAN must have had in mind. They wanted to reduce problematic drug use. But we disagree that the target has had any positive effects and we think that instead of saying that decriminalisation is a Western aspect, I think we should focus on the fact that decriminalisation is an evidence-based proposal instead of a Western proposal."
        
        Some ASEAN nations, however, argue that decriminalisation just does not gel with the region's cultural and religious beliefs. Malaysia, for instance, has been lauded as a leader in harm reduction programmes such as needle-and-syringe and methadone replacement therapy. This alternative approach to dealing with addicts aims to reduce the harmful consequences of drug-taking for people unable or unwilling to stop.
        
        Critics of these programmes feel that with them, addicts are less likely to quit their drug abuse because they are spared some of its negative effects.
        
        There are concerns in Malaysia too despite a number of these programmes being government-sanctioned. Officials in the Muslim-majority nation said the idea of using one narcotic to wean a person off another can contradict religious beliefs, what more the idea of decriminalisation and softening legal repercussions for drug users.
        Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed noted: "I think for our country, we have cultural and religious concerns that may not make it possible for us to decriminalise drugs, but we can focus on other issues such as rehabilitation of drug users."
        
        Malaysia is however discussing criticisms of its mandatory death penalty for drug traffickers. Decisions will be made soon when the Home Ministry finalises its National Drug Policy in the near future.