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The government will consider channelling a portion of the funds recovered from drug seizures towards drug rehabilitation initiatives, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
According to the New Straits Times, Anwar noted that while drug seizures have reached a street value of RM2 billion, this amount mainly accounts for drugs that must be destroyed.
Anwar suggested exploring options for the seized substances.
"We have to destroy it. I have suggested that pharmaceutical companies such as Pharmaniaga or U-Farmer could be considered, perhaps some of the drugs could be sold to them," he said in parliament today.
However, he said most of the drugs have been destroyed, and that the actual recovered value is only "in the tens or hundreds of millions" of ringgit.
Anwar said this following a suggestion by Suhaimi Abdullah (PN-Langkawi)
Suhaimi highlighted the lack of special allocations for drug abuse beyond those given to the National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK). He said 10% of the proceeds seized under the Dangerous Drugs Act should be allocated to underfunded NGOs.
"The NGOs that voluntarily and sincerely help drug addicts are severely underfunded. I know this because I served 12 years in Persatuan Mencegah Dadah Malaysia (PEMADAM) as deputy president," Suhaimi argued.
He suggested that while the funds are deposited into the consolidated fund, the Financial Procedure Act 1957 could be amended to create a clause for this purpose, given the critical nature of drug abuse.
He specifically requested 10% of the RM2.5 billion seized by the Customs Department, estimating that the police and customs together hold about RM6.5 billion in total seizures.
Earlier, Anwar said enforcement agencies had managed to recover RM15.5 billion in total illegal proceeds
These were recovered over the past two years, with the money deposited into the Finance Ministry's consolidated fund.
This total included over RM8 billion in forfeited assets collected by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), close to RM4 billion in police seizures, RM2.5 billion seized by the Customs Department from smuggling and illegal trade syndicates, and RM1 billion in penalties collected by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry and the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC).
