Director of the Terengganu National Anti-Drugs Agency (Nada), Rohayu Ahmad said that members of her agency as well as the police had detained individuals who tested positive for the two drugs, despite them saying they had never taken such drugs, a report in the New Straits Times (NST) said today.
These individuals however did admit to having drunk ketum juice. Further tests on ketum juice found traces of heroin and morphine, she said.
She cited this as one of the reasons the agency was against the commercialisation of ketum planting.
“Another concern is that people who drink ketum juice will eventually move on to other drugs. We need to nip the problem in the bud,” she said, adding that drug dealers could be working in cahoots with ketum juice sellers to supply the drugs.
Recently, Risda (Rubber Industries Smallholders Development Authority) proposed the growing of the ketum plant on a commercial scale, as it was capable of “generating billions” to the country’s economy.
Authorities, including Nada and the police were however, dead set against the idea.
Meanwhile, NST also reported that there were only 12 drug abuse specialists in the country to rehabilitate 60,000 drug addicts.
This is way off the 3,000 specialists needed to keep former drug abusers on the straight.
It quoted Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences (CUCMS) professor of psychology Dr Mahmood Nazar Mohamed as saying the need for addiction specialists in the country was critical. Dr Mahmood was also the former deputy director-general of Nada.
According to him, Nada has treated some 400,000 cases since its establishment in 1983, but the annual success rate had hovered only around 20 per cent to 30 per cent.
He attributed this to current treatment methods that were mainly traditional and spiritual based, with the use of herbal remedies and religious approaches.
These methods, he said, did little to help with relapses, where science and evidence based treatments, coupled with medication and counselling was needed.
According to him, a rising number of “normal people”, like students and professionals, were becoming victims to substance abuse as well. This included the abuse of painkillers, and even household products like glue, and petrol.