Malaysia's Government looks to decriminalise drug use in bid to stem disadvantage
Traffickers of drugs will still face the death penalty
Saturday, September 14, 2019
The non-descript white van parked at the mosque entrance went mostly unnoticed. In conservative Malaysia, very few of the Muslim faithful on their way to prayers could ever have imagined its true purpose. After a 40-year war on drugs that has seen countless thousands of drug users locked up, the van is a symbol of a dramatic shift in Malaysia's approach to narcotics. It's a mobile methadone clinic, set up to provide support on the ground as the nation prepares to decriminalise drug use. "Looking at drug addicts as suffering a form of a disease is crucial," said Nurul Izzah Anwar, a Malaysian Government MP at the forefront of the push for what many proponents simply call "decrim".