Poisons Act amended: Expanded powers for police, broader enforcement scope
In a joint statement today, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Home Ministry (KDN) said the Bill aims to enhance the effectiveness of enforcement under the Poisons Act 1952, which governs the use, possession, and distribution of poisons and psychotropic substances in Malaysia.
'These amendments are intended to allow for faster, more comprehensive and responsive action in addressing threats to public health and national security,' the ministries said.
The Bill was passed by a majority voice vote after being debated by 12 Members of Parliament from both the government and the opposition.
Key provisions include expanding enforcement authority to all police officers regardless of rank, and to other officers appointed by the health minister — including those from other ministries or agencies — as needed.
Under the current provisions, only three categories of officers have enforcement authority — Drug Enforcement Officers (pharmacists in the public service), police officers ranked Inspector and above, and senior Customs officers.
'However, in practice, patrol and inspection duties are usually carried out by lower-ranked officers such as constables and corporals. Therefore, expanding enforcement powers to all police personnel will improve operational efficiency and coverage,' read the statement.
The Bill also addresses enforcement gaps in areas where authorised officers are not present. The health minister is now empowered to appoint other officers, under set terms and conditions, to assist in enforcement when needed.
Additional focus has been placed on enhancing officer training, supervision, and coordination of control over listed poisons and prohibited substances, including those found in vape products, to ensure stronger safeguards for both public health and national safety. — Bernama
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
10 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
Retirement age extension may be boon to civil servants
KUALA LUMPUR: Extending the mandatory retirement age will enable civil servants to increase their savings, pay off debts and cover their living expenses. Putrajaya Indian Civil Servants Association president Dr Sathiskumar K. Muthusamy said many civil servants made big financial commitments, such as house purchases and personal loans, only during their mid-career. "As a result, they are unable to pay off these debts by the time they retire, while their pensions are not sufficient to cover these commitments and other costs, such as their children's education and living expenses. "So, extending it (retirement age) will provide financial relief to civil servants." Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when tabling the 13th Malaysia Plan at Dewan Rakyat on Thursday, announced that the mandatory retirement age limit would be reviewed. Currently, the mandatory retirement for civil servants is 60 years old. This is also the minimum retirement age for private sector workers under the Minimum Retirement Age Act 2012. Dr Sathiskumar suggested that any policy should be flexible as not all sectors were suitable for retirement age of 65 years old. "Critical sectors such as medicine and education can be considered. For example, a medical consultant with extensive experience can still treat patients. "However, the performance and health of civil servants need to be monitored to ensure that the quality of service is maintained and productivity is not affected," he added. National Union of Teaching Professions (NUTP) president Aminuddin Awang said Malaysia's retirement age was lower than in Singapore and the Philippines. He said in the short term, the policy might affect promotion opportunities and staff recruitment but the effect would not be significant in the long term. "We must give those who are interested and have extensive experience the opportunity to continue serving for as long as they are able."
Free Malaysia Today
5 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Race-based policies a thorn in both sides, says ex-Umno man
(From left) Shahril Hamdan, formerly of Umno, was at a panel discussion with Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad of PKR and Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal of Bersatu. KUALA LUMPUR : A former Umno leader has called for an honest national dialogue on how Bumiputera policies are implemented, as current approaches have bred resentment not just among non-Bumiputeras but also within the Bumiputera community itself. 'I think you need to make sure that whatever set of policies you have, reduce resentment,' former Umno Supreme Council member Shahril Hamdan said at the Malaysian student leaders summit held here today. 'There's too much resentment in this country,' he said. 'Clearly, the Bumiputera policy has been actioned in a way that has caused resentment among the non-Bumiputeras. And what's tragic is that you also have resentment from the Bumiputera community. 'Although they get Bumiputera privilege, they feel that they got a raw deal,' he said at a panel discussion on the mandate of the Madani government. Another speaker, former minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad of PKR said Malaysia should gradually shift away from race-based affirmative action to a needs-based approach, which was also seen in the 13th Malaysia Plan. Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal of Bersatu called for the social contract to be renegotiated, through a national dialogue. He agreed that some reforms were overdue, saying: 'It's high time in certain areas, race-based policies need to be forgone.' However, he said he would continue to uphold Bumiputera rights and privileges as part of his political struggle, but without sacrificing justice for other communities, because strategic intervention or affirmative action in certain areas was still needed on a race-based basis. Shahril said Singapore also provides for Malay rights in its constitution, but does so without stoking public frustration. 'Nobody talks about it, because the way it is expressed is probably a lot smaller than ours, and secondly, it's done in a way that does not cause resentment.' He said Malaysia's constitutional provisions for Bumiputera rights are difficult to amend, requiring not only a two-thirds majority in Parliament but also consent from the Conference of Rulers. 'So how do we then action (act) the policy in a particular way that reduces resentment? And that's a worthwhile national dialogue to have, but it has to be done honestly and sincerely,' he added. Wan Fayhsal, in calling for renegotiation of the social contract, said: 'How do we go about it? Through political discussion. And there has to be a lot of engagements done by political parties and governments. It's a national dialogue to begin with.' Any shift towards a more inclusive identity must be preceded by public engagement, 'unless you want a somewhat equal identity of Malaysian-based politics or economic policy'. Nik Nazmi said affirmative action must also consider other factors beyond race. 'We need to look at gender, look at communities, and race in terms of how you push people to participate in the country,' he said. He said this shift was discussed in Najib Razak's government and remains relevant today. Current policies place excessive focus on race alone, which undermines the broader goals of equitable development, he said. The three political leaders were responding to a question on what each panel member thought about Bumiputera quotas and the relationships between Bumiputeras and non-Bumiputeras.
Free Malaysia Today
9 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Creating Anwar's legacy — ending ‘gomenshud'
One of the most common Malaysian words I hear is 'gomenshud'. This is used whenever an issue of concern arises and the 'government should' do something about it rather than the private sector or, heaven-forfend, that individuals should fix it for themselves. It is ironic that people complain of incompetence, systemic corruption and moral turpitude within the executive, legislature, judiciary and the permanent civil service at federal and state levels but still demand that more money, responsibility and interference opportunities should be handed to them. The economics of government and policy design, called 'public choice theory' tells us clearly that people in government are not driven by the 'greater good' or the 'public interest', they are, just like the rest of us, driven by personal and collective self-interest. This is not meant to be cynical or offensive but simply to help us understand those in public policy as human beings — they have hopes and dreams, they want to make life easy for themselves as far as possible and if there is a chance to make a few bucks they will take it. Each year the auditor-general reports hundreds of millions lost in wastage and leakages across the government sector. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) estimates RM277 billion lost to corruption between 2018 and 2023. The think tank Emir Research estimates that RM4.5 trillion was lost to corruption in the last 26 years. This is all identified after the fact and to stop this haemorrhage of resources we need to address the 'gomenshud mentality' which defaults to intervention from the start without proper evaluation of the costs and benefits and the likely losses due specifically to policy design. A common form of policy design in Malaysia is the 'patronage cascade' where projects, concessions and access routes to money are specifically built-in to benefit middlemen often through pre-allocated packages and contracts. With this in mind, the 13th Malaysia Plan which will be tabled this week should reduce the role and interference of government. We should be cautious if we see 'patronage cascades' where policies are specifically designed to pass projects to vested interests. Instead, broad-based universal programmes, available to everyone, with open and transparent access routes should be the emphasis. This can be achieved first by government exiting commercial activities which crowd out large businesses, SMEs and micro enterprises and leaving these activities to the private sector. Second by slashing regulations and focusing only on minimum standards of health and safety, anti-corruption, good governance and anti-trust issues. Finally, by focusing on the basic role of government in many areas where there are direct and legitimate concerns for public policy including public health, education and social protection. Economic mechanisms we hope to see in the 13MP include liberalisation of markets, reducing regulatory burdens, limiting government interference and promoting creative, innovative, agile, competitive businesses. The US tariff issue also sends us a lesson that protectionist policies come with a reciprocal cost. So removing restrictions to market access should also be a priority for the 13MP. Proper independent assessments have rarely been made of the targets of previous Malaysia plans and many have not been delivered, fully or at all. The main unfulfilled target of every Malaysia plan is to build in a mechanism to end the need for future plans. In other words, these are 'forever wars' against dreamed up economic challenges more typical of centrally planned economies. They are increasingly irrelevant in a modern technology-driven economic environment in which anything laid down in July 2025 will be obsolete by December 2025 let alone by 2030 — gomenshud recognise this and end it once and for all. The views expressed are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
