The New Straits Times, October 1, 2000
By Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
WHEN a political party decided to launch an all-out war against Ecstasy, no one would have predicted its success in such a short time.
Even Pemadam has not been able to make such headlines almost everyday as many lend their support in fighting the worthy cause.
Drug abuse has always cut across the boundaries of ethnicity and socio-cultural background.
But in Malaysia, various communities somehow seem to be associated with
one form of drug abuse more than others.
In the case of Ecstasy, when asked why the problem allegedly is plaguing a particular race, the answer came as: "I do not understand why myself. But let it stop here. Don't let it go to the other races" (NST, July 31).
Unfortunately, despite the fear not to let the Ecstasy menace "go to the other races", it is now slowly turning into reality.
The National Dadah Agency's director-general was quoted as saying that "Ecstacy dealers had already begun to approach Malays, particularly those who frequented entertainment centres in Johor and Kuala Lumpur."(NST, Sept 24).
Unlike other narcotics, Ecstasy has not been featured predominantly among the Malay community due to the high price _ in comparison to a joint of heroin or morphine. But this will change once the price continues to drop in response to the highly successful anti-Ecstasy campaign.
Reportedly, sales gimmicks of "buy two, free one" are being adopted to entice more users.
But this is not all. Some pushers and dealers "substitute" Ecstasy with other substances which may be toxic. This will only increase the dangers faced by the users.
In all this we seem to have missed the forest for the trees. We seem to have forgotten that the Ecstasy problem is in fact a continuum of an already existing drug problem that is now entrenched in the fabrics of our society.
We cannot just focus on a specific drug, lace it with some ethnic undertones and expect the problem of drug abuse to be eliminated.
If only the existing drug abuse problem is viewed as a whole; tackled and supported by all, then the current predicament could have been avoided.
If we are not careful, the present success story could be short-lived. Worst still, it may not end in a "win win" situation - rather one person's gains could turn out to be another's loss.
It is important to recognise that in the fight against drug abuse, we are up against very resourceful crooks. Their trade transcends not only geopolitical boundaries, but equally any racial and ethnic barriers as well.
The drug scene has always been "multicultural" and "multiethnic" in character, be it among the pushers, addicts, illegal manufacturers or the smugglers.
They protect one another and attend to their drug needs. We, too, should adopt their cohesiveness to counter them.
We, too, need to demonstrate similar consistency of purpose and action without being distracted by other seemingly important issues, no matter how racially coloured they seem to be.
Datuk Lee Lam Thye made this point when he wrote: "Drugs affect all sectors of society in all countries; in particular drug abuse affects the freedom and development of young people, our most valuable asset. The drug problem has become pervasive in today"s world. No country is immune. The problem is certainly global in nature" (NST, June 26).
Are we still in the state of denial that this is just a sectarian problem rather than a national one?
We can only hope not. This could be easily demonstrated by all parties (political and non-political) working hand in hand for the success of the anti-Ecstasy war.
More importantly, the strategy must be extended to all potentially addictive drugs - narcotics, ganja, tobacco and alcohol - so that we can truly be one nation acting in concert against the one national problem that has dispossessed many of our youths regardless of their race, creed or religion.
This is the only way of ensuring that Malaysia will remain intact, free from all forms of subversion. Otherwise we may win the battle for now, but the war will continue to rage on and on, claiming more and more lives, beyond any sectarian and racial divide.
