The Malaysian Bar has welcomed the government's decision to decriminalise drugs, saying that these reforms are essential to a holistic drug policy. Malaysian Bar president Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor said the effectiveness of the hardline prohibitionist approach was questionable. "The incarceration of persons with addiction to illicit drugs — often in detention centres that are overcrowded and in deplorable conditions — does little to help them 'get clean' but often exposes them and their families to additional risks of harm," he said in a statement. Based on research findings in other jurisdictions, drug law reform in the form of the decriminalisation of illicit drug use — in favour of a more progressive harm reduction approach — is a prudent and progressive step for the Government to take in its drug policy.