WE read with great concern a motion mooted in the Youth Parliament surrounding the decriminalisation of "ganja" usage. While we do believe there is a need for an enlightened discussion in the public domain regarding substance abuse and addiction, perhaps the idea of legalising or regulating marijuana in Malaysia, in the name of TPPA, is impulsive. Instead we would like to invite the public to explore the concept of substance abuse and addiction in order to grasp the essence of the issue and take necessary precautions to address them. [continues 548 words]
KUALA LUMPUR: In response to the growing drug problem and its complexity, the National Anti-Drug Agency Malaysia (Nada) has shifted its approach from institutionalised rehabilitation to an open approach, thus help reduce drug cravings among its clients by 94.4 per cent. Nada assistant director (medical) Dr Sangeeth Kaur in her presentation, "Evidence-based drug policies for an effective HIV response: The Malaysian Experience", said the open access services and the setting up of the Cure and Care (C&C) 1Malaysia Clinic managed to shorten the treatment duration, as well as cut costs compared to compulsory drug rehabilitation centres. [continues 197 words]
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia may have to decriminalise drug use if it wants to further prevent the spread of HIV, said Malaysian AIDS Foundation chairman Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman. Doing this would encourage drug users to step forward to be tested and treated, she said. "We need a more balanced approach to some of these challenges," she said at a press conference to announce the 7th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention 2013. The event, which runs from Sunday to July 3, will gather scientists worldwide to share the latest findings on HIV/AIDS. [continues 174 words]
JELI-based Ustaz Harun is 83 years old and just over five feet tall. When he sits at the front seat of his Daihatsu Feroza, you can barely see his head over the top of the steering wheel. The diminutive religious teacher makes an unlikely anti-drug crusader but this pensioner, with his ready wit and open heart, is very much on the front-line trying to win back some of the souls who have been overwhelmed by the tsunami of drugs deluging even our smallest communities. [continues 692 words]
MALAYSIAN Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) vice-chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye lamented that drug addiction has been the number one social scourge in Malaysia for the past three decades. In a statement here today, he said the situation caused big problems for the country and the majority of drug addicts appeared to be between 19 and 39 years old. "It's critical to come up with a more effective strategy towards making Malaysia a drug free nation by 2015. "The responsibility for battling drugs rests on continuous efforts involving families and society," he emphasised. [continues 65 words]
KUALA LUMPUR: It was a day of joy for 128 recovering addicts who were given a chance to put aside their troubled pasts and participate in the preparations for the coming Hari Raya. Faisal Azlan Ismail, 29, is happy to be able to spend his first drug-free Hari Raya in a decade with his friends at the Sungai Besi Cure and Care 1Malaysia clinic. "For 10 years, I was on drugs and never got to enjoy Hari Raya by participating in the preparations such as making lemang and dodol," he said during the "Jom Kacau Dodol" programme at the clinic yesterday. [continues 302 words]
Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) today called on the government to introduce a policy to help former drug addicts and ex-convicts to get employed in the public sector. Its vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said this was because they had been given adequate skills training to help them cope and also earn a living after being released from the rehabilitation centre or prison. "I call on the government to consider hiring these former drug addicts and ex-convicts so that they will not make the same mistake and feel sidelined, just like when the government decided to allocate one per cent of employment in the public sector to the persons with disabilities (OKU)," he told Bernama when contacted here today. [continues 93 words]
IT WAS reported recently that about three million volunteers from the National Anti-Drugs Agency and various agencies under the Home Ministry had been roped in to fight drug abuse in the country. Known as the Malaysia Squad Against Drug Abuse, the volunteers concerned would not only campaign against drug abuse but would also offer treatment to addicts and help them find employment. Recognising the enormity of the drug abuse problem, it is time for Malaysia to have a new vision, direction, strategy and approach in the war against drugs if we are ever to succeed in making Malaysia drug-free by the Year 2015. [continues 418 words]
JASIN: A National Anti-Drugs Agency operation to screen suspected drug addicts in Kampung Serkam Pantai here early yesterday morning turned ugly when more than 100 villagers tried to stop youths from being picked up for urine tests. At 1am, about 20 officers accompanied by several Rela members swooped in on several youths loitering at a suspected drug haunt in the village. The officers questioned some 10 youths, in their early 20s, and demanded to see their identity cards. However, a commotion broke out when they were asked to board a truck to take them to the agency's office in Ayer Keroh to undergo urine tests. [continues 252 words]
MALACCA: An operation by the state National Anti-Dadah Agency (AADK) to weed out drug addicts in Serkam drew heat from hostile villagers and a local assemblyman even tried to prevent the suspects from being taken for a urine test. Serkan assemblyman Ghazale Mohamad told the agency's officers that he would report the matter to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam. The commotion started when the authorities confiscated the MyKad of six suspected addicts from Serkam Pantai, who refused to follow AADK officers to the Home Ministry Complex in Ayer Keroh for a urine test. [continues 324 words]
JOHOR BARU: A 30-year-old former van driver was sentenced to death for drug trafficking by a High Court here. Mohd Rizal Mohd Jamil, from Kangkar Tebrau, had been charged with trafficking 766.6g of cannabis at around 7pm on Feb 7, 2006 at the Tebrau industrial area in Kangkar Tebrau, Plentong. High Court Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh said the defence had failed to cast reasonable doubt over the prosecution's case. In his judgement, he accepted the evidence tendered by the police over the drugs, which had been found in the car Mohd Rizal had been driving. [continues 127 words]
Kuala Lumpur: The low-fare promotions mounted by airline companies in the country have not only lured frequent travellers, but also international drug syndicates to use Malaysia as their transit point. Narcotics Crime Investigation Department Director, Datuk Zul Hasnan Najib Baharuddin, said the syndicates had been taking advantage of the low air fares to get foreign nationals in the country to smuggle out the drugs for them. "The drugs were brought in from other countries and the syndicates would then hire foreign nationals staying in the country to take the drugs out, using the low fares offered by the airlines," he told a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters, here, Friday. [continues 91 words]
KUALA LUMPUR - There is an urgent need to have a paradigm shift in the venue for treating dadah addicts from the present rehabilitation centres to mosques and other places of worship, an eminent addiction psychiatrist Prof Dr Mohamad Hussian Habil said today. He told Bernama that the shift would provide dual benefits, in that the addicts would be at ease in the serene and peaceful environment of the mosque and it would also help them to satisfy their spiritual needs. In addition, the shift would also tremendously reduce government expenditure on the rehabilitation of these addicts. [continues 336 words]
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. [continues 295 words]
A court in Kuala Lumpur sentenced two Indonesians to death by hanging for marijuana dealing on Friday. Drug crimes are punishable by death in the country. Mohammad Idris (32) and Zainuddin (40), both from Aceh, were caught trying to sell marijuana at a kiosk in the city in September last year. Local police confiscated 5.7 kilograms of marijuana from them. Both defendants pleaded not guilty in the charges, claiming they were told by a man call Yan to deliver a bag to the kiosk, and denied knowing what was inside the bag. [continues 89 words]
KUANTAN: They mostly hang out in the dark alleys and quiet streets during the night. But when daylight comes, some of these drug addicts head to a "drop-in" centre in the heart of town for a proper morning shower and meal. The centre is run by Drug Intervention Community, or DIC, a non-governmental organisation that has taken a soft approach in getting drug addicts to kick their habit. Every day, except weekends, a group of nearly 20 addicts would voluntarily gather at the centre. [continues 239 words]
Kota Kinabalu: Police are worried that at least one student ends up being caught for drugs every month here. In light of this, Acting City Police Chief, Supt Rowell Marong said police are going the extra mile to work with schools and higher learning institutions to stem the problem. He said drug dealers targeted students because they were easier to influence. "Youths are favourite picks for drug dealers to be potential customers because they are vulnerable," he said, adding police detained five drug addicts on average daily. [continues 162 words]
PASIR MAS: An undercover narcotics policeman was shot during an operation to nab two peddlers at a restaurant along Jalan Pasir Mas-Rantau Panjang here. L/Kpl Muhammad Hairi Yusoff ducked in time and the bullet grazed the back of his head. He was with a team of officers conducting a sting on drug peddlers on Sunday night. Two suspects arrived in a Proton Waja and met the "buyers" at the restaurant here, near the Rantau Panjang border town. While "negotiations" to purchase some amphetamine pills were going on, the suspects became suspicious and L/Kpl Hairi tried to arrest them. [continues 85 words]
JOHOR BARU: A car wash attendant and welder were given the death sentence by a High Court here for trafficking in more than 6kg of cannabis. K. Nanda Kumar and M. Poobalan, both 31, were found guilty of trafficking in the drug in front of a hotel in Taman Ungku Tun Aminah here at about 8pm on Aug 24, 2002. The two had met an undercover police officer to discuss a drug deal before they were arrested. The defence said the drugs were brought to the crime scene in a lorry by someone else. Both denied any involvement in the drug deal. [continues 116 words]
Tuaran: Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor said statistics from the National Drugs Information System (NADI) showed that most of the drug addicts detected in Sabah are married men. They are among 97.7 per cent of the male addicts throughout the country. In this respect, Hajiji regretted that drug addict husbands on Syabu are often more aggressive and violent, thereby exposing their wives and children to imminent danger. He hoped the people would respond positively to the programmes organised by the National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK), such as parenting and religious talks, and futsal competitions for local youths in five mukims, could help deviate public attention to the drug scourge. [continues 96 words]
KUCHING: Do not expect the government to interfere -- this is the reminder from Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Joseph Salang to women arrested overseas for drug-related offences. "At best, we will send a lawyer or representative from our foreign mission to see that the trial is fair. "Other than that, we will not interfere. The reason is that Malaysia has stiffer penalties for drug-related offences," he said when asked to comment on the case of 22-year-old Irene Manggie of Sarawak, who was arrested and charged in Sao Paulo for possession of cocaine. [continues 132 words]
The Health Ministry is targeting to provide 15,000 drug addicts with free syringes through its Harm Reduction Programme in its effort to curb the risk of HIV infection among intravenous drug-users. Its deputy minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said until July this year, 2,224 had participated in the programme and 30,000 condoms distributed for the same objective. "This means, the 2,224 addicts need not share syringes and indulge in unsafe sex," he said when replying to a question from Datuk Mat Yasir Ikhsan (BN-Sabak Bernam) on the effectiveness of the programme, in the Dewan Rakyat here today. [continues 212 words]
WITH a relapse rate as high as 70 per cent, it had become evident very early in the longstanding war against the country's public enemy number one that the regimen of cold turkey detoxification, paramilitary discipline and counselling in Pusat Serenti had been a less than smashing success. However, in the absence of other proven methods, the strategy had been to build even more rehab centres and incarcerate as many addicts as possible. But with some 250,000 addicts on the official register, and with drug users making up 75 per cent of the 73,000 HIV-positive cases, the point had been reached where there was a dire need for fresh directions. As a result, over the last two years, we've explored alternative methods of rehabilitation and experimented with drug-substitution therapy. [continues 283 words]
PUTRAJAYA: He was on Death Row for the past nine years but when his case came up for appeal yesterday, a vegetable seller had every reason to smile. Baha Jambol's conviction was amended from trafficking to possession which meant that his death sentence was overturned. The reason for the amendment was simply because the High Court judge who had found him guilty of trafficking in 50kg of cannabis and had sentenced him to death, only delivered the written judgment on Sept 26 -- more than nine years after sentencing Baha. [continues 379 words]
PENANG: Former painter Chuah Kok Eng was sentenced to death by a High Court for trafficking 271.9g of cannabis. Chuah, 47, was seen shaking his head when the court interpreter explained the death sentence to him. He then turned around towards the public gallery where his wife Ong Lean Ean was seated and shook his head as though he was in a state of disbelief. When Ong signalled to Chuah that she did not understand what he was trying to tell her, Chuah then put his hand around his neck indicating that he would be hung. [continues 107 words]
A labourer was sentenced to six years' jail and ordered to be whipped 10 times by a Sessions Court here for possessing 94.4g of cannabis. Judge Fathiah Idris ordered Shahrin Ishak, 31, to serve the sentence from the date of arrest after Shahrin pleaded guilty to the charge Tuesday. Shahrin was charged under Section 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for possessing the drugs, kept inside a blue box under a cupboard, at his house in Taman Berpadu, Sitiawan, on Aug 4 at about 11.45pm. [continues 113 words]
PUTRAJAYA: The methadone replacement therapy programme will be extended to help more drug addicts, as the curing method has proven effective and successful, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said. The Deputy Prime Minister said the aim was for the programme to reach 25,000 addicts by 2010. Currently, some 5,000 individuals were undergoing methadone replacement therapy at 58 locations across the country including hospitals, health and private clinics. "We are pleased that the programme has borne positive results. According to records, 66% of those who undergo a 12-month therapy are able to maintain permanent employment while 24.9% will take on odd jobs. [continues 159 words]
KULAI: A suspected drug dealer was shot dead by police near his house in Taman Khet Loong Sunday. Lai Foo Keong, 40, was trying to run away -- after his car landed in a drain following a chase -- when in the ensuing struggle a policeman was shot in the left arm. The policeman shot Lai in self-defence, killing him on the spot. The incident took place just 100m from Lai's home. Earlier, policemen on crime prevention rounds spotted Lai behaving suspiciously in Taman Gunong Kulai. [continues 117 words]
SHAH ALAM: A factory worker was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to receive 10 strokes of the rotan by the High Court here Friday for possession of 206.9 grams of cannabis. Zaidi Zainal Abidin, 36, had pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of drug possession. He was initially charged with drug trafficking under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction. Zaidi Zainal had pleaded guilty of committing the offence at his house in Pangsapuri Kiambang, Jalan Metafasa U16/3, Taman Bukit Subang at about 1.20pm on Dec 23 last year. The father of two sons aged four and two was first charged in Jan 5 for drug trafficking and had claimed trial. [end]
Kuala Lumpur: Drugs Are Drugs In The Eyes Of The Law There is no such thing as "soft drugs" and "hard drugs", a judicial commissioner said when he sentenced an Indonesian labourer to 15 years' jail term and 10 strokes of the whip for a reduced charge of drug possession Monday. Judicial Commissioner Zainal Azman Abd Aziz's remark came in response to the mitigation by counsel Ameenuddin Mohamed Ibrahim for 27-year-old Mohamad Abdul Rahman, who had been charged with trafficking over 3kg of cannabis in 2002. [continues 229 words]
PUTRAJAYA: A 32-year-old factory worker escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal acquitted him of trafficking in more than 9kg of cannabis six years ago. However, Court of Appeal judges Justices Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Abdull Hamid Embong and K.N. Segara unanimously convicted Zulkifli Arshad for possession and jailed him 18 years and ordered him to be whipped 10 times on each of the two charges. They ordered the jail terms to be served concurrently from the date of his arrest on Jan 27, 2001. [continues 199 words]
Bruce Willis has crticised the American government's stance on drug abuse, insisting that it is more productive for politicians to handle the social problems that lead people to take drugs in the first place. "The big problem is the reasons people have for wanting to anaesthetise themselves. We fight it the wrong way. The war on drugs is a joke. If somebody weren't making money off cocaine traffic or drug traffic in general, it wouldn't exist," Willis said. Willis returns in the new instalemnt of the Die Hard franchise, Die Hard 4.0, next month. [end]
KUALA LUMPUR: Preventing the spread of HIV in Malaysia may have hit a snag with the Health Ministry being unable to openly promote the use of condoms. Health Ministry deputy director of disease control (AIDS/STD) Dr Jalal Halil Khalil said this could lead to prevention programmes being less effective. "It may slow down the effectiveness of prevention. It is difficult to promote the open usage of condoms," he said after attending a Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) International AIDS Memorial Day function. [continues 248 words]
KUALA LUMPUR: Visit Ma-laysia Year 2007 is attracting "unwanted" visitors. International drug syndicates are scrambling to get into the country to make profits off foreign tourists. The drugs of choice are high-grade heroin and cocaine, which are popular in Europe and the United States. Malaysian addicts prefer low-grade heroin while cocaine is difficult to obtain here as it has to be imported from South America. In the past fortnight, police have seized substantial amounts of such drugs. Federal Narcotics director Datuk Abang Abdul Wahap Abang Julai said the syndicates were trying to cash in on foreign tourists under the Visit Malaysia Year campaign. [continues 241 words]
MORAL dilemmas are hard to grapple with when they arise as a consequence of a scourge as deadly as AIDS. Consider the qualified success of the needle and syringe exchange programme introduced last year as a means of cutting down the incidence of HIV/AIDS infections spreading through the contaminated paraphernalia of drug abuse. This was an instance of "realism" taking precedence over the morally repugnant notion of helping drug addicts remain addicts, only with cleaner equipment, which too many of them took only to exchange among themselves as before. Now comes the question of condoms: To promote, or not to promote? [continues 331 words]
Sabah Commissioner of Police Datuk Mohammad Mokhtar Hassan said the Crime Index involving students in Sabah showed an increase between January and April this year compared to the similar period in 2006. According to him, the increase was 25 per cent or three cases from 12 cases last year. "What is worrying is the involvement of students in violent crimes," he said, when launching the secondary school level Rakan Cop and Crime Prevention Programme at Wisma Muis, here, Sunday. He said the violent crimes committed by the students comprised two rapes, one non-firearm robbery, one criminal intimidation case, one rioting case and four causing hurt cases. [continues 297 words]
More and more students are getting involved in violent crimes and drug abuse in the state and the police are getting very worried. Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Hassan said that students from secondary schools and institutes of higher learning had been caught for a variety of crimes including rape, robbery, fights and house break-ins. Last year, of the 409 juvenile reports, 62 cases or 15.2% involved students and many of them involved theft and property crime, he said at the launch of the Rakan Cop and state-level anti-crime campaign for secondary students here yesterday. [continues 157 words]
USING artistes like Datuk Siti Nurhaliza to campaign against drug abuse has been proven to be too expensive, said Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharom. While it was not known if their involvement had any impact against drug abuse, the problem was worsening by the day, he said. He said as more than 80% of the addicts were Muslims, the National Drug Agency planned to hold outreach programmes in mosques starting this year. Mohd Johari said campaigns against drug abuse held in mosques would be more effective and inexpensive. [continues 141 words]
The Positive THE "harm reduction" pilot programme introduced in 2005 for intravenous dadah users is a resounding success, at least as far as the Health Ministry is concerned. Deputy director-general of Health Datuk Dr Ramlee Rahmat said the majority of the addicts involved in the pilot project had kicked the habit. He said the ministry will start recruiting more addicts in new areas. He said the ministry had an understanding with the police and the anti-drug agency on the expansion of the programme and on areas which will be out of bounds to raiding parties when the programme is on. The ministry will, however, not stop the police from arresting addicts involved in the programme caught in criminal activities or dadah abuse outside the programme area. [continues 504 words]
Kota Kinabalu: Two death row prisoners failed in their bid at the Federal Court here on Monday to reverse the death sentences imposed on them by the High Court. Judge Datuk Bentara Istana Nik Hashim Nik Abd Rahman who sat with Judges Datuk Haji Hashim Datuk Haji Yusof and Datuk Azmel Haji Maamor unanimously dismissed the appeals by Mohamed Hj Muslimin, 34, and Basil Omar, 36, respectively. The judges affirmed the death sentences by hanging imposed by the High Court which had also been affirmed by the Court of Appeal. [continues 412 words]
A Cheaper Treatment Is Available To Wean The Addict Off The Drug, Write Azura Abas And David Yeow THE use of methadone to wean addicts off drugs has seen high success rates -- up to nearly 90 per cent in the case of heroin addiction. However, many are still sceptical of its effectiveness as they feel it is wrong to replace a drug with another. "It is just like treating diabetics who need their daily dose of medication to control their disease," said Prof Dr Rusli Ismail from the Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Methadone, he explained, would reduce the craving for addictive substances and was effective in eliminating withdrawal symptoms such as abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, sleeping difficulty, restlessness and joint pains. [continues 1146 words]
Fancy meeting a grandma who grows cannabis in her wardrobe? I JUST read a report about a grandmother in England who was recently charged with growing cannabis in her home. I don't know about you, but there are certain activities that I usually associate with pensioners, and growing weed isn't one of them. The grandmother of my childhood didn't even smoke or drink, never mind grow marijuana in her wardrobe. I'm not sure if she would even have recognised the distinctive leaves of the cannabis plant had she stumbled upon a specimen growing in her back garden. [continues 664 words]
KUANTAN: Two Thais were charged in a magistrate's court here with trafficking in 32.31kg of cannabis. No plea was recorded from Abdul Halim Da-Oh, 35, and Manawi Mama, 41, of Narathiwat province. The offence allegedly took place at Lagoona Villa Cherating at the 43rd kilometre of the Kuantan-Kemaman road on Nov 16. The charge under the Dangerous Drugs Act carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction. Deputy Public Prosecutor Kalmizah Salleh applied for a new hearing date as the prosecution was awaiting the chemist's report. Magistrate Noralashiken Abd Razak fixed Jan 29 for the case to be re-mentioned. [end]
The daughter of a former Kenyan Member of Parliament is one of the four foreign students facing the death penalty after they were caught in possession of 4kg of ganja recently. Joe Donde and his family were expecting a joyous Christmas as his daughter, Deborah, was due home this week for the holidays. Instead, their plans are now in tatters after Deborah, a second-year college student here, was caught with the other three students when police raided a condominium in Cyberjaya. [continues 302 words]
KUALA LUMPUR: The daughter of a former Kenyan Member of Parliament is one of the four foreign students facing the death penalty after they were allegedly caught in possession of 4kg of ganja recently. Joe Donde and his family were expecting a joyous Christmas as his daughter, Deborah, was due home this week for the holidays. But their plans are in tatters after Deborah, a second-year college student here, was arrested with other three students when police raided a condominium in Cyberjaya. [continues 303 words]
PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court dismissed an electrician's appeal against his death sentence for trafficking in almost 1kg of cannabis 13 years ago. Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum and Federal Court Justices Arifin Zakaria and Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman rejected Mohd Azhar Saad's counsel Datuk K. Kumaraendran's contention that the Court of Appeal had erred in law when it accepted his client's statement made to a lance corporal at the time of his arrest. [continues 99 words]
The 16th World AIDS Conference focused on prevention. ADEEBA KAMARULZAMAN calls for Malaysians to pay attention to sex education in fighting the disease. THE just concluded 16th World AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada, is a biennial gathering of scientists, activists, community leaders, politicians and people living with HIV/AIDS. This year's theme -- "Time to Deliver" -- was meant to underscore the urgency with which prevention and treatment programmes need to be put into place, 25 years after the epidemic began. In Malaysia, this becomes even more relevant given the findings from a local study reported in the NST on Aug 18 of the high degree of sexual promiscuity, coupled with low levels of knowledge surrounding HIV/AIDS, among local tertiary students. [continues 1028 words]
PUTRAJAYA: The trap sprang too early in the drug transaction and this saved a former contract worker from the death sentence for trafficking. Saari Jusoh had been jointly charged with Mohd Saufi Jusoh with trafficking in 3,686gm of cannabis at Jalan Tun Abdul Razak in Johor Baru on Sept 8, 1991. On Dec 11, 1995 the High Court sentenced Saari to death for trafficking. (Mohd Saufi was acquitted of the charge.) Yesterday, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction and set aside the sentence and ordered that Saari be jailed 20 years and whipped 12 times for drug possession. [continues 146 words]
MUAR: A former Politeknik Ungku Omar student was sentenced to 10 years' jail and ordered to be given 10 strokes of the rotan for possessing 960g of cannabis three years ago. Mohd Rakif Saidi, 23, who was brought to the High Court here and charged under the Dangerous Drug Act, pleaded guilty before Justice Datuk Jeffrey Tan yesterday. He was arrested by a police team along Jalan Parit Othman, Parit Sulong, on May 15, 2003. Mohd Rakif, who was riding a motorcycle along the village road, had tried to speed away when he saw a police team from the narcotics branch but was stopped. [continues 97 words]
KUALA LUMPUR: A top Malaysian anti-drug official has urged for glamorous-sounding and hip names of party drugs to be dropped and replaced with names highlighting the effects of the drugs, a news report said yesterday. Designer drugs such as Ecstasy and Ketamine gave the impression of a "trendy and divine" experience for first-time drug users, said northern Kedah state's anti-drug agency spokesman Ariffin Man. Suggested new names for the drugs would be "agony" and "bamboozle", said Ariffin. "Likewise, all opiate drugs should be called organised killers, cannabis as mind destroyers and ketamine as community-paralysing agents," Ariffin was quoted as saying by the Star daily. He said the distasteful names would act as a psychological repellent to curious youngsters, adding that society ought to reject the names of the drugs which were dictated by drug manufacturers and pushers. [end]
Inside Malaysia
