Over the past six years, a total of 131,841 drug addicts were detected in the country, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said according to statistics issued by the National Drug Information System of the National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK), the addicts detected between January 2010 and February this year, comprised 127,797 males and 4,044 women.

He noted that drug abuse among individuals aged between 20 and 39 recorded the highest number at 93,044 people, followed by addicts aged 40 and above at 29,355, while drug addicts aged 19 and below totaled 8,732 people.

"From 1983 to date, drug abuse is still the number one enemy of the nation," Ahmad Zahid, who is also home minister, told the Dewan Negara here today.

He was replying to a question by Senator Datuk Koh Chin Han who wanted to know the statistics of drug addicts according to age and gender from 2010 to date, as well as the measures taken to overcome the menace.