Its director-general Ruslin Jusoh said there have been cases of primary school students having easy access to synthetic drugs sold in the form of vapes, Berita Harian reported.

“This is very dangerous. It exposes them to the risk of mental health issues such as hallucinations, depression, and even having suicidal tendencies,” he was quoted as saying.

Ruslin said a total of 50,000 former drug users are being monitored by AADK, while 5,000 are undergoing rehabilitation at centres run by the agency.

He added that just last year alone, 191,000 people were arrested for various drug offences. About 70% of them were between 19 and 40 years old, he said.

Last month, police seized 400 vape cartridges laced with fentanyl in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor in a major drug bust.

The vape cartridges were discovered along with methamphetamine weighing 212kg, 389 packages of suspected drugs weighing 404.12kg and 1,975 aluminium foil packets containing Erimin 5 pills.

The government also ordered a crackdown last year following reports of banned substances being sold on social media, including drug-laced vape devices.