Learn from drug rehabs run by NGOs, religious groups, govt told

 

Langkawi MP Suhaimi Abdullah said the government should take note of better-run drug rehabilitation centres and standardise the programme all recovering addicts go through. (Facebook pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: 

The government should emulate the best practices of drug rehabilitation centres run by NGOs and religious groups, says an opposition MP.

Suhaimi Abdullah (PN-Langkawi) said centres run by Buddhist and Christian groups have seen many success stories, with one recovered addict becoming a successful businessman and donating RM50,000 to the society that ran his centre.

He said NGOs run a tighter ship than government centres and yield better results, many of them successfully reintegrating addicts into society.

Suhaimi also said some centres in Kedah integrate religious practices into their recovery programmes.

After Asar prayers, they continue with Maghrib and Isyak prayers, and engage in religious recitations,

 he said during the debate on amendments to the Drug Dependants (Treatment and Rehabilitation) Act at the Dewan Rakyat.

Suhaimi said he had witnessed the varying experiences of addicts when undergoing treatment at four different centres in Kedah, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Terengganu.

He said when he was Pemadam deputy president, he slept one night at each of these four centres, both government and privately run, to experience how residents were treated.

In Kuala Lumpur, for example, addicts are misled into believing they are receiving medication.

He recalled a troubling scene where elderly inmates of one centre were given Panadol and were seen 

crying and begging

 for methadone (a replacement drug given to treat withdrawal symptoms of drug addiction).

Suhaimi said the government should take note of better-run centres and standardise the programme all recovering addicts go through.

He also said the government should help these NGOs, saying some addicts do not receive aid from the religious authorities.

Zakat offices categorise these individuals as asnaf (needy), yet no assistance is given,

 he said.

The 2024 Drug Dependants (Treatment and Rehabilitation) (Amendment) Bill, tabled by home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, was passed with a voice vote.

Saifuddin later said at a press conference outside the Dewan Rakyat that the act would effectively decriminalise drug use and allow officers from the National Anti-Drugs Agency, instead of medical doctors, to certify a person as a drug addict. - FMT