A Mini-Review on the Abuse of Psychotropic Substances in Malaysia

Psychotropic substance use is a global issue that may pose unprecedented threats to nation-building and socioeconomic growth. The essential feature of substance use disorder (SUD) is a cluster of cognitive, behavioural and physiological symptoms indicating the individual continues to use the substances despite significant substance associated problems. Opioids, alcohol, cannabis, psychostimulants such as cocaine, amphetamine, and methamphetamine, as well as hallucinogens are among the substances that are commonly abused. Despite enormous efforts directed towards addressing the use of drugs or psychotropic substances use concerns, the cases associated with such use have increased significantly year after year. The transition from plant-based to synthetic drugs poses new challenges for drug policy and public health strategies in most of the countries including Malaysia. Furthermore, newly emerging drugs which include new psychoactive substances (NPSs) that recently spiked in the drug market, makes it increasingly difficult to tackle this problem. The purpose of this review was to summarize the existing literature on psychotropic substance use in Malaysia including drug treatment and rehabilitation program, identify challenges and provide directions for future research.