KUALA LUMPUR: Drug abuse in Malaysia has reached a “critical level” and threatens public safety, economic stability, and social structures, said the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
He cited recent figures that showed that Malaysia had recorded 192,857 drug users and addicts last year, up by nearly a third from the previous year, with 61 per cent falling within the 15 to 39 age group.
“Of this number, 96 per cent are male, driven largely by peer influence and curiosity,” he was reported as saying by Bernama after chairing a Cabinet committee meeting on eradicating drug abuse on Monday (May 19).
The statistics Ahmad Zahid cited were first released in February by the National Anti-Drugs Agency.
Statistics published on the agency’s website indicated 145,526 reported drug users and addicts in 2023.
The latest statistics show a 32.5 percent increase in reported drug users and addicts from 2023 to 2024.
According to the agency, amphetamine-type stimulants such as ecstasy were involved in over 70 per cent of drug use cases, followed by opiates like morphine and heroin (about 23 per cent), and marijuana (4 per cent).
Ahmad Zahid was also reported as saying that Kelantan has the highest drug abuse rate in Malaysia, with 1,130 users per 100,000 population, followed by Terengganu (974), Perlis (965), and Kedah (898).
To address this growing and complex drug problem, he said the committee approved the Anti-Drug Communication Plan 2025–2027 on Monday, a comprehensive and targeted strategy.
The plan, he said, focused on fostering behavioral change, increasing awareness, and delivering accurate information through coordinated inter-agency efforts, aiming to build a national anti-drug movement.
Ahmad Zahid also highlighted concerns involving mushroom-flavoured vape products found to contain psychoactive substances or hallucinogens such as psilocybin and psilocin, based on findings by the National Poison Centre.
“These substances pose a serious risk to children and youth and require immediate and more aggressive enforcement action,” said Ahmad Zahid.
According to Australia’s Alcohol and Drug Foundation, these substances affect all the senses, altering thinking, sense of time, and emotions, and can cause hallucinations where individuals see or hear nonexistent or distorted things.
Ahmad Zahid added that Malaysia’s Home Ministry will utilise a crime data network analysis system to better track drug-related crime patterns and help develop more focused and effective strategies to tackle the issue.
He also said that the government remained firm in implementing the National Drug Policy, which covers prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and enforcement.
“The fight against drugs is a shared responsibility that requires active involvement from all levels of society — including the public and civil society groups.
“To protect future generations from the threat of drugs, we will remain steadfast and uncompromising in this fight against the nation’s number one enemy,” he said.
Other Southeast Asian countries are also facing challenges with synthetic drugs.
A previous United Nations (UN) report described how drug traffickers in Southeast Asia were using the sea to avoid interception by land enforcements carried out in Thailand and China.
Myanmar’s remote eastern Shan state remains a top crystal meth or “ice” producer due to poor law enforcement.
A huge share of drugs is shipped out via the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, an area known as the Golden Triangle.
Smugglers are able to conduct ship-to-ship transfers on the high seas, outside of any country’s jurisdiction.
