Drug addiction forces father to part with daughter
The man was left with no choice but to make the difficult decision.
KOTA BHARU - Trapped in a vicious cycle of addiction, a father was forced to give up his third child since birth, weighed down by the struggle to make ends meet for his family.
Caught between financial hardship and addiction to ‘pil kuda’ or yaba pills, the man was left with no choice but to make the difficult decision.
Man (not his real name), 39, said he started taking yaba pills after leaving school and working as a labourer with an unstable income, using them to relieve fatigue.
"I took yaba pills to ease my fatigue from work. They made me feel less tired and stronger. But I couldn’t take care of my third child because my income was unstable.
"My third daughter, who is six now, has been cared for by someone else since birth because I couldn’t afford her hospital bills and daily expenses. Giving her up also made things a bit easier for me,” he told reporters here today.
The father of four daughters, aged 12, nine, six and one, was among 161 people detained today by the Kelantan National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK) in an operation dubbed Ops Perdana.
Struggling to survive, the man said he sometimes had to borrow from drug dealers just to cover his daily expenses.
"After paying rent, there are times I can’t even afford to eat. I take drugs on my own and get them from dealers. I feel sad, and I feel guilty towards my kids,” he said, adding that his wife had told him to quit, but he just couldn’t control his addiction.
The operation also saw the detention of four brothers who work as labourers and their brother-in-law, all believed to have been using yaba pills for several years.
All of them, aged between 30 and 40, were arrested at a house in Pasir Mas, which was home to more than 20 people from three families, including a 10-week-old baby.
Ayie (not his real name), in his 30s, said he was taking two to three yaba pills a day and had been struggling with the addiction for years.
"Some of us started four years ago, some six. Out of my 12 siblings, four of us began taking yaba pills a few years back. You can get this drug really easily for about RM5 a pill, and there are plenty of dealers,” he said.
In the four-day operation that began on Aug 24, the Kelantan AADK arrested 161 people in Bachok, Pasir Mas, Kuala Krai, and Kota Bharu, all identified as having high rates of drug addiction.
Of the total, 157 individuals aged between 19 and 61 tested positive for drugs, including 155 men and two women, while six others were found violating the conditions of community rehabilitation treatment, and four foreigners were handed over to the police for further action. - BERNAMA
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