Drug treatment centers are overcrowded and there is no way to help addicts, Deputy Minister of the Homeland Security Ministry Mohamed Rashid said on Saturday (January 10).

Rashid, who is in charge of the National Drug Agency (NDA), told the Public Service Media (PSM) that the agency had stopped registering new members at the rehabilitation centres.

He said there is no way to help the addicts and their rehabilitation does not yield the best results because of the poor conditions in rehabilitation centres.

"The reality is that there are really no facilities at the moment to help the drug addicts. We need to introduce many things to achieve good results," Rashid told the state broadcaster's Raajje Miadhu program.

He expressed hope that rehabilitation centres will be upgraded within this year while solving the challenges in human resources. Rashid noted that there is only one counsellor for 30 addicts at the NDA.

He added that the Muizzu administration did a lot of "ground-level" work over the past two years to improve the situation.

According to the NDA, more than 10,000 people use drugs in the Maldives. There are nine drug treatment centers across the country. The treatment is also provided during remand.

The Muizzu administration says the drug problem is not a health issue, but a national security issue.