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Source:
www.mha.gov.sg |
Written Answer to
Parliamentary Question on drug addiction situation |
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Written Answer to Parliamentary Question
on drug addiction situation |
Ms Sylvia Lim: |
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister for Home Affairs whether he will give an update of the drug
addiction situation, including the size of the problem, recidivism rate,
trends of concern and new strategies being deployed to fight the drug
menace. |
Mr Wong Kan Seng: |
The drug addiction situation in Singapore is
under control, even though 999 drug abusers were arrested in the first
half of this year, compared to 446 over the same period last year. |
Of the total number of abusers arrested,
Buprenorphine abusers formed the majority, at 41%, with heroin abusers
at 30% and synthetic drug abusers at 25%. |
One reason for the increase of 553
abusers is that the Central Narcotics Bureau gazetted
Buprenorphine as a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act
in August last year. |
As with any drug that is newly-gazetted,
arrests are likely to be high in the initial period. With
sustained enforcement, we can expect the number of Buprenorphine
abusers to stabilize and taper off. |
Another reason for the increase in
drug arrests is that some ex-Buprenorphine users had turned to
heroin abuse after Buprenorphine was made a controlled drug.
Around half of the heroin abusers arrested in the first half of
this year, or 145 offenders, were ex-Buprenorphine users. |
An important indicator of the drug
addiction trend is the number of new abusers arrested. This fell
from 278 in the first half of 2006 to 204 over the same period
this year. |
Among repeat abusers arrested, more
than 60% were prosecuted under the long-term imprisonment (LT)
regime. They will be kept away for between 5 and 13 years, thus
preventing them from abusing drugs further or contaminating
others. |
Relapse rate is another important
indicator of the drug abuse trend. The LT regime has been
effective in deterring recalcitrant abusers from relapsing again
into drug abuse. |
Over the five-and-a-half year period
since the first batch of offenders were released from the LT
regime at end 2001, the proportion of persons who underwent LT and
relapsed was less than 10%, or in absolute numbers, 336 persons. |
The relapse rate in 2006 for those who
were released from LT in 2004 and relapsed within two years was
very low at 1%. This low relapse has contributed favourably to the
overall 2-year relapse rate of drug abusers arrested, which has
dropped from over 60% prior to the introduction of the LT regime,
to less than 5% in 2006. |
Singapore’s integrated multi-pronged
anti-drug strategy comprising strict laws, vigorous enforcement,
preventive education, rehabilitation and aftercare, as well as the
active involvement of the community, has ensured that the local
drug situation remains under control. |
This approach has achieved positive
results and our drug abuse situation compares very well against
any other country in the world. |
Source:
www.mha.gov.sg News Release 27
Aug 2007 |
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