Illicit Drug use in the Asia Pacific Region - Burnet Institute

Situational analysis of illicit drug issues and responses in the Asia–Pacific region
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Historical and cultural interactions
with drugs
Malaya (as it was known prior to independence)
was never an opium-producing country
— opium was always imported . The country
has however had a long history of opium use,
beginning in the early 19th century with the
importation of migrant labour from China
and South India . The smoking of opium was
closely, although not exclusively, associated
with the Chinese community, while cannabis
was considered to be used mainly by
the Malay and Indian communities (McCoy,
1991; Spencer & Navaratnam, 1981) . Cannabis
was regularly used, more so among
the Malays, often for medical purposes
(Navaratnam & Foong, 1989) . In the mid-
19th century there were an estimated 75,000
registered opium smokers; by 1929 this had
declined to 52,313, with most reported to be
Chinese (Kaur & Habil, 2002; McCoy, 1991) .
In 1930, following a League of Nations
report on opium smoking in the Far East,
international pressure mounted upon Malaya
to curb the availability and use of opium .
By 1936, the number of registered opium
smokers was over 32,000 in Malay States,
but it is likely that many more were obtaining
their drug illicitly (McCoy, 1991; Spencer
& Navaratnam, 1981) .
In 1957, Malaysia became independent and
a new trend in opium use emerged: opium
had previously been confined to the elderly
population but now a younger generation of
men turned their attention towards heroin
use . Heroin was mainly imported from the
Golden Triangle (McCoy, 1991; UNAIDS &
UNDCP, 2000) . In 1952, Malayan authorities
launched an anti-drug strategy largely as
a result of what was seen to be a rising
tide of drug-related crime . In the late 1960s
the ‘hippie’ culture from the West made
its impact upon Malaysia, perceived to be
escalating the drug problem . Drug rehabilitation
centres were established and more
draconian punishments against drug use
became enshrined in law . Even so, from the
early 1970s onwards the drug use problem
has been considered a grave concern and is
referred to as ‘public enemy number one’
(McCoy, 1991; National Narcotics Agency,
2001; UNAIDS & UNDCP, 2000) .
A8 .2 Prevalence of drug use
and profile of drug users
There are varying estimates of the number of
illicit drug users in Malaysia, none particularly
methodologically sound; the current literature
suggests an increasing number of people
using illicit drugs (Mohamed et al ., 2004) .
The registration of drug users began in 1970;
that year, there were 711 people registered .
By the mid-1980s this had risen to 119,000
(Navaratnam & Foong, 1989), and throughout
the late 1980s and into the 1990s estimates
ranged from 180,000 to 400,000, of which
170,000–200,000 were believed to be opioid
users (UNAIDS & UNDCP, 2000) . It is difficult
to tell, from Malaysian figures, whether these
are cumulative or prevalent estimates .
In 2001, the prevalence of cannabis use for
those aged 15–64 years was estimated at 0 .5
per cent of the population (United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime, 2004b) . In 2002,
the National Drug Agency estimated there
were more than 350,000 drug users in the
country (Huang & Hussein, 2004) with the
media in 2004 citing government sources
reporting figures ranging from 400,000 to
500,000 (Chua, 2004) . In 2003, the Director
General of the National Drug Agency stated
that if the problem of drug use was not
contained, the number of drug users may
reach 600,000 in ten years’ time (New Straits
Times, 2003b) .
Following a series of intensive law enforcement
operations, figures from 1988 until
March 2004 showed 293,987 registered drug
users (again, probably cumulative) and from
2000 until March 2004 73,750 were classified
as ‘hard core addicts’ (National Drug Agency,
2004) .
Between 1988 and 1996 the National Drug
Information System reported there were
127,000 non-duplicated drug users registered
(UNAIDS & UNDCP, 2000) . In 2002, 31,893
drug users were identified and of these
17,080 were new users (54%), while the rest
were classified as relapse cases (Mohamed
et al ., 2004) . A further rise in 2003 showed
36,996 drug users, of whom 55 per cent were
classified as new cases: an average of 1683
new drug users placed onto the registration
system every month and 56 on a daily basis
(National Drug Agency, 2004; Sunday Star,
2004) . From January to March 2004 there
were 1931 new cases of drug users registered
per month (Chua, 2004) .
In 2002, a consensus meeting convened
by the World Health Organization and the
Ministry of Health estimated the number of
IDUs could be 170,000 to 240,000 (Futures
Group, 2003; Huang & Hussein, 2004) . In
2004, the United Nations Reference Group
on drug injecting issues suggested 150,000
to 240,000 IDUs with a middle range figure
of 195,000 . If the middle range figure is
accepted, among the 13 million people aged
15–64 years in Malaysia the prevalence of
those injecting drugs would be 1 .47 per cent
of the population (Aceijas et al ., 2004) .
Although amphetamine-type substances
(ATS) (mainly in the form of crystalline methamphetamine)
are increasingly popular and
appearing to be more accessible in 2003,
heroin followed by cannabis are by far the
most common illicit drugs for which people
sought and received treatment (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2004a) .
In 2003, a profile of drug users compiled
by the National Narcotics Agency showed
most drug users were male (98%); the racial
breakdown was Malay 70 per cent, Chinese
14 per cent, Indian 10 per cent, Lain-Lain
4 per cent, others 1 per cent and foreigners
1 per cent . The majority (71%) of drug users
were aged 20–39 years . Their educational
standard varied, with 36 per cent having
achieved only third form secondary school
education . Those with no schooling or up to
primary level comprised only 16 per cent of
the identified cases (National Drug Agency,
2004) .
Data collection systems in place
The National Drug Information System
collects information from drug treatment
admissions and arrest data to enhance an
understanding of the drug use situation . The
Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Centre for Drug
Research undertakes research in ATS use
(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
2004a) . Evidence of the effectiveness of this
data collection process is not available .
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Country profiles: Malaysia