Enforcement must be paired with demand reduction strategies to stem addiction or sustain recovery, says specialist
PETALING JAYA: Drug arrests are climbing nationwide, but rather than signalling progress, experts say the trend is laying bare a system that continues to rely heavily on punishment while failing to stem addiction or sustain recovery.
Universiti Sains Malaysia Centre for Drug Research Vicknasingam B. Kasinather said the rising arrest figures reflect operational activity rather than meaningful impact on drug use.
“While the number of arrests continues to increase, the outcomes of these arrests are not encouraging.
“Sending people who use drugs to prison is not useful because most of them will go back to drugs almost immediately once they are released.
“In short, the increase in arrests does not solve the problem of drug use. It only temporarily puts an individual away,” he told theSun.
He said enforcement must be paired with demand reduction strategies, stressing that addiction is a mental health condition that imprisonment does not address.
“Locking up drug users without providing treatment will almost certainly result in drug users continuing to use drugs once they are released,” he said.
On whether drug seizures are effectively suppressing supply, Vicknasingam was blunt.
“In my more than 20 years of doing research in this area, I have never seen a time when there has been a shortage of drugs in the community.
“Any amount of drug seizure by enforcement agencies has never really impacted the illicit drug market in a particular area.
As long as there is demand, there will be supply.”
He also questioned whether enforcement efforts are reaching the right targets, adding that many of those imprisoned for trafficking are from lower-income backgrounds and not the main profiteers in the drug trade.
“Are we getting the drug kingpins or are we only nabbing low-level drug traffickers who are involved due to socio-economic reasons? The big drug kingpin finances the trafficking but does not touch the drugs. Hence, they rarely get caught,” he said.
Malaysian Substance Abuse Council secretary-general Raja Azizan Suhaimi said the rising figures cannot be viewed purely through a law enforcement lens.
“The increase in drug cases and arrests today is not simply because there are more bad people or damaged individuals, but because the reality of life now is becoming more pressured – economic pressure, family problems, loneliness, untreated trauma, mental health issues and social influences,” he said.
He drew a clear distinction between operational success and genuine recovery, adding that repeat arrests reflect a system that is strong on detention but weak on rehabilitation.
“That may be proof that our system is good at catching people, but not yet strong enough to rehabilitate them.”
He said even when users are taken off drugs temporarily, the system often fails to sustain long-term recovery.
Raja Azizan also said enforcement-heavy approaches may discourage people from seeking help.
“Many drug users actually want to get help, but they are afraid of being arrested, recorded as offenders, punished or judged.
In the end, they delay seeking help until the situation becomes much worse.”
He added that wealthy families are increasingly opting for private treatment because they perceive gaps in the public rehabilitation system, particularly in aftercare and reintegration support.
“Many from the T20 group choose private treatment alternatives for their children because they are aware of the weaknesses of the existing system.”
On March 29, Narcotics Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said drug related cases rose to 242,075, with more than 300,000 arrests recorded nationwide between 2023 and 2025.
