EFFORTS AGAINST DRUG ABUSE VITAL FROM GRASSROOT LEVEL

KOTA KINABALU - A partnership between local community leaders and drug
prevention association (Pemadam) need to be forged to improve the
awareness to hate drugs at the grassroot level.

Deputy Minister Datuk Yahya Hussin, who is also State Pemadam chairman
said he was aware and concerned with the message not reaching the
community at the grassroots level.

Towards this end, he hoped the participants of the Pemadam Orientation
Course 2006 for village heads, community leaders and women
representatives would play a proactive role as the partners of the
association instead of they themselves get involved or condoned drug
abuse.

"I was made to understand that the Pemadam Kota Kinabalu branch has
formed its Pemadam Unit at City Hall area to act as the ears and eyes
of the district body," he said when closing the course.

The latest statistics showed the 1,317 of 2,134 drug addicts detected
in Sabah last year were in Kota Kinabalu. This showed the city has
become the biggest drug den and it must be stopped, he added.

Datuk Yahya noted that the number of drugs addicts in China and Saudi
Arabia were the lowest in the world probably due to their stringent
laws where drug addiction is punishable by death.

However, he said, although Malaysia is strict against drug offences,
it has not reached this stage because the government was confident
that it can still be addressed.

Drug abuse is not only common to youths who may not understand the
danger and consequences of the bad habit but to those matured,
educated and working people and even those high-ranking officers and
politicians.