KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — The education ministry should take the currently deteriorating drug abuse situation among school students to the Cabinet for immediate action.
Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said while the problem was not new, it nevertheless needed serious attention from all parties, including the authorities and the community.
“The problem needs to be eradicated as the younger generation, especially schoolchildren, has been identified as the target group by drug syndicates and runners to influence them into becoming ‘drug mules’ and so on.
“Thus, I feel the problem has existed for a long time, right up till today. I am proposing the minister concerned bring the issue to the Cabinet to handle it in depth and get more serious attention,” he told Bernama.
He was commenting on a press report today, on the current drug problem among students reaching worrying proportions.
Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid was reported as saying his ministry was now giving more attention to category C schools in the effort to stamp out drug abuse among students.
Category A schools are those with good disciplinary record, and category B refers to schools with some disciplinary cases while in category C schools, disciplinary problem such as skipping class and drug abuse are rife.
Commenting further, Lee said the roles of the authorities, especially the police should be expanded and enhanced, including going to schools to identify the mastermind behind drug abuse.
“The police can visit schools and gather information to identify the people linked to drug syndicates,” he said.
He also requested schools to share information with the authorities if students were found involved in drug abuse. — Bernama
