VARSITY TO HELP FIGHT DRUG ABUSE

TANJUNG MALIM: Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) created
history on Friday by becoming the first university to co-operate with
the National Drug Agency in the field of drug abuse prevention education.

In a memorandum of understanding signed by UPSI vice-chancellor Datuk
Ashari Che Mat and the agency's director-general Datuk Salleh Mat Som,
the two parties agreed to combine their respective expertise to help
the Government fight drug abuse in the country.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Zainal Abidin Zin, who witnessed the
signing, hoped the agreement would pave the way for UPSI to become the
first university to produce experts in the study of drug abuse.

He also hoped that UPSI, a teacher's training university, would become
a centre for acquiring and disseminating such knowledge among
intellectuals in the region.

He hoped both parties would be able to develop programmes and
long-term activities in the field of drug abuse prevention education.

Current programmes needed to be evaluated and given new input, he
added.

He said there was an annual average of 17,000 new addicts the past
five years and the figure of relapse cases was always higher.

Zainal said 98.35% of the addicts were males and that 44.8% were
taking heroin.

The latest figures show that 10,591 new and relapse addicts were
detected in the first five months of the year compared to 35,359 in
1999.

Penang has the most number of cases since 1998 with 4,821 detected
that year, 4,943 in 1999 and 2,085 for the first five months of this
year.