PETALING JAYA: A 58-year-old construction worker revealed that he consumed approximately 100 methamphetamine pills every month for over 30 years until his arrest in November last year.

“I started getting addicted (to drugs) when I was 25-years-old,” he told New Straits Times.

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His addiction was so severe that he would sometimes take up to 10 pills at once.

“I was even willing to spend RM1,000 on methamphetamine pills,” he was quoted as saying.

After serving his sentence, he was released under the Licensed Prisoner Release programme, along with 68 other inmates.

His sentence is set to officially end in December, after which he plans to restart his life in Bachok.

“I want to change. I have tried to quit the habit but I failed,“ he admitted, adding that this was his fifth time being jailed for drug-related offences.

Offering advice to the younger generation, he warned, “My advice to youth is to stay away from drugs, don’t even try it, it will destroy your future.”

Machang prisons deputy superintendent, Mohd Sazeli Mohd Noor, explained that the programme supports the reintegration of former convicts, who were all between the ages of 21 and 58.

Of the 68 individuals released, 14 were handed over to their families, 24 were sent to transit homes, while the remaining inmates were placed under the care of employers to help them re-enter the workforce.

Sazeli added that participants in the programme must follow the conditions set by the prisons department until the completion of their sentences, which range from one to 10 months.