Malaysia: Citing prison overcrowding, group urges reform to rehabilitate minor drug users

By Ashman Adam / Malay Mail

The All Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia for the Reform of All Places of Detention (APPGM) has called for the country to reconstruct the current prison system into a rehabilitative one to better manage drug offenders.

In an interview with Astro Awani on their Consider This talk show, lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo from the group said prisons are already “running over 200 per cent over capacity” and that 60 per cent of inmates were incarcerated for minor drug offences.

“To address that, you would be looking into an entire policy reform and that must translate into legislation.

“Currently, our drug laws for possession, even for use, send you straight into prison and that is not the answer,” she said during the interview.

She also added that incarceration does not address the issue of drug abuse in the country.