The Malaysian Substance Abuse Council (Masac) yesterday urged the government to gazette ketum as a drug under the Dangerous Drugs Act before the end of the year.

Its secretary-general Raja Azizan Suhaimi said this drastic measure to tackle ketum water addiction is to avoid an increase in addicts as there has been an uptick in the abuse of the substance.

“It’s time to stop taking ketum addiction lightly as...