DRUG ADDICTS: HUNT DOWN PUSHERS, SMUGGLERS

I REFER to the suggestion by Abdul Razak Abu Samah of Bohor, Pahang, that
we should "Cast away drug addicts on a rehabilitation island" (NST, Dec 8).
I have my reservations about the writer's suggestion. I think it is unwise
for anyone to believe that hardcore drug addicts can be rehabilitated by
putting them away on remote islands.

They are sick and desperate human beings. They would kill their own mother
just to get money to support their habit.

But they are also not livestock that could be left to fend for themselves
on remote islands. Most of them are walking skeletons with HIV or AIDS, and
dying a slow death.

Besides, it is against their human rights to cast them away from their
families, relatives and friends. How many people remember that in the early
1950s, the British government in Singapore thought it wise to rehabilitate
hardcore criminals and gangsters on an island called Pulau Senang?

It was a success story for a couple of years, until a riot broke out and
the prisoners massacred the British superintendent of prisons, his officers
and warders, and burnt the facility to the ground.

The United Nations later advised countries not to establish penal islands
unless maximum security is guaranteed.

Think of the funds needed to build such facility on a remote island. There
is also the matter of logistics, staffing and management. Is it worth it?

There are now more than 200,000 registered addicts, with many more not
accounted for. The population of hardcore addicts will increase every year.

Do we have enough islands to host all of them?

The availability of drugs on our streets is one reason for the rise in drug
abuse. This contributes to the rise in petty and serious crimes.

Although large amounts of drugs have been found by the authorities in
recent years, very few big-time pushers and smugglers were arrested.

The authorities seem to be arresting more drug addicts, and unless a
concerted effort is made by enforcement agencies, the war on drugs, which
the government declared three decades ago, will not be won.

We must commit our energy and resources to fighting this war, just like the
US is doing in its war against terrorism.

Drug pushers and smugglers must be hunted. The authorities must offer
rewards to those who give information leading to their arrests.

NOR SHAHID MOHD NOR, Petaling Jaya