NUMBER OF STUDENTS ABUSING DRUGS DOWN, SAYS HON

KUALA LUMPUR: Random urine tests conducted at schools reveal that the
number of students under the influence of drugs has declined compared
to last year.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Hon Choon Kim said yesterday that of
the total 4.29 million students nationwide, 328 students tested
positive in random checks last year, while only 103 were identified up
till August this year.

"I would like to explain that the problem of students taking drugs is
under control,'' he said.

However, Hon stressed that drug abuse should be nipped in the bud and
the target of drug-free schools by 2012 be achieved as soon as possible.

"Why wait so long where more people can lose their lives as a result
of drug abuse,'' he said at the closing of the National Anti-Ecstasy
seminar yesterday.

The "zero drug'' target set by the National Drug Agency in 1998 is
aimed at making schools drug-free through comprehensive curricular and
co-curricular programmes, teacher and parent intervention and creating
drug-free families.

Hon said there were no statistics on the number of students taking
Ecstasy pills as it was a new problem.

"Our random tests reveal traces of drugs other than Ecstasy,'' he
explained.

The two-day seminar was aimed at increasing knowledge among principals
and parent-teacher associations on the dangers of drugs especially
amphetamine type stimulants and to encourage them to curb Ecstasy abuse.