There has been a rapid increase in the past five years in the numbers of hospitalized drug dependents. While the studied population was clearly unrepresentative of the country-wide drug using population, it illustrates how the problem is neither limited to one particular stratum of society, nor to the few "traditional" drugs. Indeed, an increasingly youthful group of individuals drawn from all backgrounds is not only becoming dependent upon opiates, but is also using a range of other drugs, all of which are available on the market at relatively low cost. The market prices of drugs have an effect on the pattern of drug use; and many individuals move directly from tobacco to heroin smoking. Drug abuse continues to be a considerable public and governmental concern, and enforcement and treatment programmes are rapidly expanding in attempts to resolve this problem.
A field survey, based on a representative sample of children aged 12 to 16 years was carried out in three different areas of Malaysia. The data derived from the study have revealed that 10.5 per cent of them used drugs for non-medical reasons. Drug use was more common among boys (11.9 per cent) than girls (8.6 per cent). The highest frequency of drug was found in the youngest group--12-year-old children (13.5 per cent). The use of barbiturate and/or non-barbiturate sedatives (5.5 per cent) ranked first. This was followed in descending order by tranquillizers (4.5 per cent), simultants/amphetamines (3.9 per cent), heroin (3.6 per cent), morphine and/or opium (3.9 per cent), the hallucinogens (3.1 per cent) and cannabis (2.7 per cent).