Chairperson, hon Minister, it is unfortunate that addiction to substances starts at an early age and finds it victims in all walks of life, all ages and all types. The market of drug peddling is lucrative, inducing more people into its use and its sale.
We are, indeed, shocked and appalled at the recent incident of a teacher selling drugs to students. But when we look closer, we hear even more shocking and disturbing patterns of abuse, where parents and children engage in the use of substances together. We have to sit back and ask what causes one to do this, and thousands of excuses will surface.
As Parliament, we have a duty to rescue our people from this and to make the use of substances illegal. The appreciation for life has deteriorated and the serious effects of substance abuse have been ignored.
The provisions for halfway houses and rehabilitation centres are crucial to the prevention and deterrence of substance abuse, as well as the reintroduction of victims of substance abuse into our communities.
We need to encourage our communities to be supportive of these victims. And, most of all, to assist in smoking out those involved in the sale of substances so that we may remove them from society and live peacefully knowing that our children and families are safe from their clutches.
The MF believes that the Central Drug Authority will play a pivotal role in the reduction of substance abuse and in completely stamping out these abuses from our communities.
We need to intensify awareness about the realities of substance abuse, the lives it has claimed and the lives it has destroyed by having victims of substance abuse visit communities and schools. The MF fully supports the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill. I thank you, sir.