MALAYSIA AIMS TO BE DRUG-FREE BY 2015

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 31 (Bernama) -- The government is mulling over plan to
re-employ civil servants who were sacked because of drug addictions when they were fully rehabilitated, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Thursday.

He said the move was in line with the government's call to have the
reformed
addicts re-accepted into the community.

"We cannot tell the community to re-accept former drug addicts if we
ourselves don't take them when they are fully recovered," he told reporters
before chairing the Drug Prevention Committee meeting, here Thursday.

Currently, civil servants who had been sacked because of drug-related
problems were prohibited from rejoining the public service.

The minister said Malaysia was aiming to become a drug-free nation by 2015
-- the same year Asean aimed to be a drug-free region.

The government, Syed Hamid said, was very committed with the target
especially in combating drug syndicates in the country and in conducting
rehabilitation programmes.

He said the government was concerned about the cumulative number of drug
addicts in the community which was between 400,000 and 500,000 people.
-- BERNAMA