The meeting, the second held this year, was chaired by Prime Minister  Dr Mahathir Mohamad here yesterday.

“The meeting took a serious view of drug abuse cases and the number of seized items which was still high,” a statement issued by the home ministry said.

The committee agreed that the proposed amendments to the Drug Dependants (Treatment and Rehabilitation) Act 1983 would be reviewed taking into account the views of its members, the statement added..

The committee also agreed that all government agencies would be responsible for implementing integrated prevention programmes through such initiatives under the National Drug Policy for the period 2020–2025, where such programmes were coordinated and monitored by the ministry, especially the National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK).

It called for the empowerment of the police’s Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department by upgrading its assets and technology, as a step towards enhancing the department’s readiness to tackle global drug crimes.

Putrajaya said it would enhance cooperation between the government and NGOs through the Alternative Service Delivery (ASD) initiative by implementing appropriate supervision programmes for those being supervised under the AADK.

“Three areas will be selected in the pilot project for the ASD to see the effectiveness of the initiative,” the statement added.