Debated in Parliament on 4 Apr 2017.
Madam, I beg to move*, "That this House strengthens the fight against drugs by reaffirming Singapore's strong anti-drug stance and calls on the Government to continue (a) applying tough laws to deter the trafficking of drugs into Singapore; (b) investing in the rehabilitation of drug addicts; and (c) preventing a drug-tolerant culture from being established in Singapore."
*The Motion also stood in the name of Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar, Dr Tan Wu Meng, Ms Tin Pei Ling and Mr Vikram Nair.
Mdm Speaker, increased drug abuse in Singapore is a matter of concern. Since 2011, more than 3,000 drug abusers are caught every year, out of which, about 1,000 are new. Among the new drug abusers in 2016, close to two-thirds were below 30 years of age. In 2015 and 2016, the Drug Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) admission increased when overall penal admission had decreased. Per the most recent statistics, almost one in three inmates is convicted again within two years.
The brokenness of drugs is more than statistics. I have felt that brokenness on the ground. Before entering politics, I volunteered at the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association to work with youths-at-risk and speak about the havoc drugs can create in their young lives. Drug addiction, for many, is the death of their drive and ambition.
The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Singapore Prison Service are sterling institutions, staffed with dedicated and committed officers. Their effort in the fight against drugs is courageous. But, the fight is not only theirs to bear. All Singaporeans have a role to play.
The first point is that we need to deter drug trafficking in Singapore and into Singapore. Stemming the supply of drugs is a critical part of the fight against drugs.
As Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said at an ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, I quote, "We should also prepare well for the international debate on a new global action plan to tackle drugs. … We must not let softer approaches that allow the harm from drug use to spread..."
Minister K Shanmugam correctly said in defence of Singapore's tough laws at last year's UN General Assembly, "For us, the choice is clear. We want a drug-free Singapore, not a drug-tolerant Singapore." These positions, which support a tough stance on drugs, should remain. With your permission, Madam, may I display some slides and photographs on the screens?
Yes, please. [Slides were shown to hon Members.]
In 2014, the amount of cannabis seized spiked by 125% from 15 kg in 2013 to 35 kg in 2014. The next year, 2015, the demand for cannabis increased. For the first time, cannabis became the second most commonly abused drug among new abusers in Singapore. That year, there was about a 26% increase in cannabis seized from 35 kg to 44.3 kg. One year later, in 2016, the amount of cannabis seized continued to rise significantly. According to provisional statistics, during the first six months of 2016, the amount of cannabis seized was almost the same amount for the entire year of 2015. The data showed that over the entire year, the amount of cannabis seized increased by another 22% from 2015 to 2016. Therefore, muscular laws continue to be needed as they are both relevant and necessary.
Stopping drugs from entering Singapore is an important aspect of solving the drug problem. To stem the supply of drugs, we need tough laws to deter the potential drug trafficker. After all, drug trafficking is, for the most part, pre-meditated. It is a coldly calculated risk between potential profit and potential punishment.
What does one stand to gain from drug trafficking? Quick money. It is lucrative.
Driven by greed, the drug trafficker takes the plunge. He lines his pocket with money at the expense of the drug addict, the addict's family and society. These tough laws are needed to deter harm − to deter harm to the abuser and to society. We must hold the line of tough and muscular laws. Let no one weaken it. We must strengthen this line, defend it and protect it.
When a person becomes a drug addict, nothing else matters. He neglects his children, his parents, his job and his own health. For example, the severe condition of "meth mouth" is associated with drug use − multiple teeth decay, teeth breaking completely at the gum line, gum disease and bone loss. Paranoia may result. Even in low doses, permanent brain damage may result: using cannabis as rare as once a week may irreversibly lower one's IQ.
People characterise cannabis as a "soft" drug. What is a "soft" drug anyway? I completely disagree with the term "soft" drug. There is nothing soft about the ill-effects of drugs. Cannabis is harmful. Multiple studies have shown that cannabis can be a gateway drug to heroin and cocaine, especially among young abusers. Compared to the general population, there is a four-fold higher risk of mortality among those with cannabis-use disorder. So, you want to call cannabis soft? To do so is plain foolishness.
To escape the clutches of illicit drug taking, some addicts have to endure excruciating symptoms, such as uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhoea and an unstoppable feeling of insects crawling under his skin.
After overcoming addiction, the ex-addict would still need to battle the lure of drugs that will come back to haunt him throughout his life.
It is not only the drug addict who is harmed. His family and those around him are deeply affected. A drug addict's ability to communicate and maintain good relationships is impaired. His mother, father, husband, wife, son, daughter, employee or employer will be affected. The physically and emotionally absent addict puts a strain on the family unit he is in.
Last year, a picture from Ohio made its round around the world. It showed a four-year-old child left in a car with two adults overdosing and unconscious. A month later, yet another harrowing picture − this time, a 10-month-old infant in the backseat.
To drive the point further on the harmfulness of drugs, let us do some sums.
How many people does one think are affected by a drug trafficker who has trafficked the amount of drugs which may attract the death penalty? Two hundred and fifty grammes of meth feeds 185 abusers for a week and 15 grammes of diamorphine sustains about 180 abusers for a week. If one multiplies those numbers with the number of family members affected, the impact of drug trafficking is severely expanded. Let us say, for each addict, he has a spouse, a parent and two children. That means five people are affected − the addict himself and four family members. Multiplying 180 abusers a week by five, we get about 900 people affected. That is equivalent to about 30 platoons! If a person ran towards 30 platoons with a grenade, should not a lethal shot be fired to protect the 900 people?
We need tough drug laws to prevent the immense harm drug trafficking inflicts on Singaporeans. These families are psychologically crippled over weeks, months, years; slowly, insidiously.
Not only are the drug addict and his family affected by the actions of the drug trafficker, society is affected as well.
Drug addicts need increasing doses of drugs to feel normal or to feel the next high. As a result, many resort to crime to fund their addiction. With an increase in crime rate, the security and peaceful environment we enjoy and take for granted will become threatened.
It is for these reasons that I seek that the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) be reviewed regularly so as to ensure that it contains the legal muscle it needs to deter the supply, that is, trafficking, and the demand, being the consumption − both elements of the drug offence.
I call for a regular overview of the MDA. Why?
Firstly, because of the spike in young drug abusers. The number of abusers arrested under the age of 30 has increased by about 20% since 2014. In 2014, the percentage of young abusers under the age of 30, compared to overall abusers, was 35.1%. In 2016, that percentage increased to 41.1%. Furthermore, in 2015 and 2016, the number of new drug abusers increased. Among the new drug abusers, close to two-thirds are below 30 years of age.
The second reason why I ask for a review of the MDA is that the supply of cannabis is on an upward trend. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, the amount of cannabis seized increased each year by 125%, 26% and 22% respectively. In fact, the provisional statistics for January to June 2016 showed that the amount of cannabis seized in that six-month period was almost the same amount for the entire year of 2015.
Another statistic of concern is the number of penal drug admissions. In 2011, the number of penal drug admissions decreased to an all-time low of 1,742. In 2012, the number jumped by almost 42% to 2,472. This was the highest in six years.
Drug trafficking looks to have increased recently. The reply to a Parliamentary Question in September last year seems to suggest that trafficking has increased from 2011 and that the present figures remain higher than in 2011.
Madam, why is it important to continue having harsh, muscular laws and having a regular review of the MDA? Because drugs kill lives. They destroy futures. Let me share how with real examples, examples similar to families each elected Member of this House has served, examples which show the destruction that drugs bring.
For several years, in the constituency I serve, we helped a grandmother raise her grandson. Her daughter got hooked on drugs and spent time in prison. On top of her work as a cleaner, this devoted grandmother saw to her grandson's needs. Her grandson would often visit us. When he did well in school, we all celebrated. When things got tough, we encouraged. A bond has been built. But there is a missing link − his mother. Why? Drugs. When his mother was going to be released from the DRC, I wrote a letter to her personally. We wanted her to know what her own mother had to go through because of her drug addiction. We wanted her not to return to her old ways. In that letter, we offered her a job − a job that was near her house. We wanted her to be able to support her family and be there for her son. In the end, she thanked us but found somewhere else to work.
I give another real life story. Just five days ago, at my MPS on Friday night, I met an aged grandmother. She requested assistance. Why? Because she was caring for her grandchild. Why? Because her son and her daughter-in-law are in prison. Why? Drug addiction. The grandmother needs to take care of her grandchild's schooling, sustenance.
Let us be completely clear. Drug traffickers destroy lives and such destruction can be inter-generational.
So, I ask this House, do we let the supply of drugs overtake us? Or do we fight back? Do we allow drugs to destroy the lives of Singaporeans or do we say, "No, not on our shores!"?
Therefore, Madam, I propose that we re-examine whether the MDA needs a further review to ensure that it is constantly equipped with the legal arsenal and muscle it requires to deter the supply of drugs into Singapore. It is suggested that we revisit the law regularly. Through such regular reviews, the benefits and possible gaps in existing laws should become more evident.
One aspect to re-examine under a review is whether the law, as presently encapsulated in the MDA, can be better calibrated to address the harmfulness of newer drugs or drug combinations. For example, drugs are often mixed with contaminants or with other illicit drugs. These contaminants may affect the potency and addictiveness of the drugs. One recent example in America was heroin mixed with elephant tranquiliser. This potent mixture caused many to overdose and die. This contamination is driven by greed − more effect, with lower cost to produce.
A common harmful contaminant is meat tenderiser. The meat tenderiser, which is normally used to "pre-digest" meat to make it tender, is mixed with the drug such that it "dissolves muscle and flesh" when administered.
Essentially, we need to look at the detrimental effects of drugs in the raw, in the flesh and without rose-tinted glasses. There is a drug called "krokodil". It is named after the side-effects, crocodile-like skin − green, scaly and bumpy. If it misses the vein, it eats the flesh. It has been described as destroying "body tissue the way battery acid eats through plastic". Yet, this harmful drug made of codeine mixed with lighter fluid, industrial cleaning oil or the like, is three times cheaper to produce than heroin.
This brings into sharp focus why we need to do all we can to ensure that drugs do not get a foothold, in particular. Hence, the MDA should not only be focused on the weight of the drugs trafficked but should also give due consideration to the potential harmfulness of the drug when mixed or cocktailed with available consumables.
The second suggestion is that we would need quicker incorporation of new drugs into the First Schedule. The "First Schedule" should be "flexible" enough to quickly incorporate new drugs not previously outlawed, especially since new concoctions are constantly being attempted at by syndicates.
This slide illustrates that it is important that our laws be able to keep up with New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). What is currently done by the Fifth Schedule which allows for "restricted circulation" is a good measure, but it is imperative for effective control of addiction that the move to make such substances "First Schedule" be prompt, that is, be prompt enough to frame a drug trafficking charge against it.
The third suggestion is to insert a new provision in the MDA, creating a unique offence of sale of drugs over the Internet, attracting a higher penalty.
Most commonly described as the Dark Net, more people are turning to the Internet to get their next fix.
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean also mentioned at the 5th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Drugs that "illicit dealers… used the Dark Net to attract new drug abusers. Our agencies have worked hard to catch such abusers and hold them responsible for their actions."
The number of people arrested for buying drugs and drug-related paraphernalia online increased significantly from 30 in 2015, to 201 in 2016. That is a 570% increase over the span of one year.
Due to the increasing number of youths experimenting with drugs and the huge potential of the Internet to facilitate sales to youth, we should consider specifically how an aggravated offence can be legislated where the trafficker uses any element of social media or the Internet to entice or procure sales.
For example, an aggravated offence could be created where any act in the series of acts leading up to the eventual sale or potential sale of the drug was performed through the medium of the Internet or any social media platform. This may deter drug traffickers from using the Internet to advertise sales, potentially leading to reduced drug sales to youth.
The fourth suggestion is to make an offence the act of recruiting, via the Internet, to traffic drugs using the Internet and to bring that new offence under an enhanced punishment regime similar to that for recruiting young offenders.
The fifth suggestion is to have another tier of punishment for drug traffickers who possess the aggravating factors of (a) targeting persons under 30 years and (b) using the Internet.
The sixth suggestion is that of defining Internet broadly in the MDA to include websites, social media platforms and applications. In particular, messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, often used by the younger generation, should be covered.
Madam, I have completed the first part of my speech of why we need muscular drug laws to deter drug trafficking in Singapore and into Singapore. Now, I move on to the second point which is why we need to invest in rehabilitation so as to reduce the recidivism rate.
Stopping the supply is one aspect. Helping those who have fallen into drug addiction to get out of it is just as important.
There are several reasons why rehabilitation is important.
First, we must distinguish between addiction and trafficking. Drug trafficking laws need to be tough − deterrence is the main reason for punishment. This is only right for a premeditated, greed-driven crime.
Drug addicts need to be rehabilitated. They need to get out of the clutches of drug addiction. Yes, it is right that we have the Drug Rehabilitation Centre to rehabilitate our drug addicts. Let us remember − it is the Drug Rehabilitation Centre. We have already chosen to subscribe to the philosophy of rehabilitation. For those six months to three years, we have chosen to take custody of the drug addict in order to rehabilitate him.
It is only proper that we give the drug addict the best shot at turning over a new leaf.
Each addict saved means another husband, wife or child saved. Each addict saved means one more valuable contributor to our society. Each addict saved is a life saved − a life saved from misery, self-harm, lost potential. Madam, with your leave, may I ask for the distribution of the handouts?
Yes, please. [Handouts were distributed to hon Members.]
In order to rehabilitate well, we need to look surgically at our recidivism rate. The current recidivism rate for DRC is 30.1%, almost one in three of our inmates is coming back through the door within the first two years. Furthermore, each year, more than half of the drug abusers arrested were repeat drug abusers.
In 2011, a Task Force on Drugs was formed to "tackle the drug abuse situation." Through its recommendations, the Singapore Prison Service implemented the Community Rehabilitation Centre (CRC) and the Enhanced Drug Rehabilitation Regime. These are all good initiatives and recommendations, but there is a lot more we can do.
Rehabilitation is, by its very nature, always a work in progress and I acknowledge the good work the Prison Service does in this regard. I also accept that there must also be a strong desire on the part of the drug addict to want to rehabilitate. I hope the following suggestions could be taken into consideration, with the mind of developing and adding to the Prison's good work.
The first suggestion is to increase access to effective rehabilitation for lower risk inmates. We should make full use of the window of opportunity while an addict is low-risk. Lower risk inmates have a higher chance of recovery. If that opportunity is not grasped and he did not have the best chance for rehabilitation, he will soon relapse. By then, it may be too late.
This is even more important for young drug abusers. Youthful years are meant to develop a good circle of friends and good peer support. That is why investing in the rehabilitation of young drug abusers is so important. But how can we do this effectively for the young drug abuser, as well as the older drug abuser? The answer lies in reconditioning.
A key method of reconditioning is pleasure replacement. When drugs are used to escape from difficult situations, it is important for rehabilitation that ex-drug addicts experience that there are other healthier ways of getting relief. For instance, physical activity and games help re-write the circuit and show that, yes, there can be relief outside drugs. Such activities also foster motivation through goal-setting and working towards a drug-free life.
One example is Phoenix Multisport in the United States, where recovering, like-minded drug abusers who want to stay sober do exhilarating physical activities together. The idea is pleasure replacement − replacing the pleasure derived from drugs with more healthy activities. We should study to see how such models can be transferred into a DRC setting.
With that, let me move on to reintegration, which is another key factor in lowering recidivism, which is a key component for rehabilitation. In the DRC, counselling on resisting the temptation to take drugs is head knowledge. But once the addict is released, he is plunged into a world where the temptations lurk about. The ex-drug addict needs to have counsellors available to him, post-release, to help him.
One such support mechanism is the Serigaya Methamphetamine Relapse Prevention Program (SMARPP), a work-book based counselling exercise, in Japan. Research on the effectiveness of the Japanese programme found that it "increases a drug abuser's awareness of problems, their motivation for treatment and serves as preparation for group therapy."
In 2016, researchers attempted to develop a web-based version, which included videos adapted from cognitive behavourial therapy, websites linked to addiction support services and self-monitoring colour-coded calendars, to enhance motivation. Would the good Minister consider issuing a self-teaching workbook to each ex-drug addict upon release as a resource to help him resist the urge to do drugs?
Family, Madam, plays an important role in the reintegration of an ex-drug addict. Families need to be equipped and empowered to fulfil their roles as the anchors they can be. A proactive family may ask these questions: how best to help the ex-offender? How best to interact with him? What to watch out for? Families need to be equipped with the answers. There may be shock, denial, hurt, a sense of betrayal. But, ultimately, who would not want their husband, father, son, or wife, mother or daughter back? Many would.
The suggestion here is that DRC inmates be given more visitation time to facilitate the reintegration process. Family therapy is an initiative that could be looked into seriously within the DRC, attended by the inmates and their families.
Another idea is for more families to attend family-focused workshops, like those conducted in 2006 by the Family Resource Centre. Topics were based on inmates' needs, as identified by their personal supervisors in prison, including parental, marital and reintegration issues. The suggestion here is to have a larger number of joint sessions involving the inmate and his family.
For those with little or no family support, positive peer support can come in the way of Community Befrienders. The volunteer's role is important, especially since a new social network is critical for disengaging from the web of drugs.
Madam, let me now move on to the last and third topic − the third part of the Motion, which is, preventing a drug-tolerant culture from setting root in Singapore.
While muscular laws and effective rehabilitation are needed to combat the supply and demand elements of drug offences, we must also ensure that the overall national attitude or the cultural perception towards drugs remains strongly anti-drugs. We, as a society, must view drug trafficking and consumption with suspicion and disapproval. We cannot afford to slip into a pro-drug culture. We must remain, strongly, anti-drugs.
Many countries have lost the war on drugs. In a defeatist narrative, these countries now proclaim the usefulness of "soft" drugs, such as cannabis. Such a narrative paints these soft drugs as harmless. Such spiel may sound attractive, but what it really indicates is that those countries are on the back foot in their already-weak fight against drugs. That narrative, though false, has permeated through the globe, such that a culture more tolerant to recreational drug use is setting root. Singapore could fall prey to such a culture. We cannot allow that to happen.
We should reveal drugs for what they really are − harmful, addictive, destructive. The drug endemic in America is a prime example of what we should not allow to happen on our shores. There, drugs are not just tolerated but also promoted. Drug usage becomes the new normal. Lives are wasted, potential is wasted − all because of higher tolerance, which blossoms into the acceptance of a drug culture.
In 2015, in the United States, overdoses on prescription and illicit opioids multiplied by four times since 1999. Since the legislation of cannabis, there has been an increase in traffic accidents and fatal traffic accidents in Washington state and Colorado, which have legalised cannabis. Please look, in particular, at the line that extends all the way to 2015 − the percentage of traffic accidents in Washington where drivers have been tested positive for the active ingredient in cannabis. That has steadily increased since 2012 and has climbed rapidly upward. This is something we should not risk.
The prevalence of drug abuse has also impacted the economy of Colorado. Large businesses now have to recruit out-of-state residents to find employees that can pass a pre-employment drug test. As a pre-construction company told The New York Times, "to find a roofer or a painter that can pass a drug test is unheard of."
This slide shows an increase in calls, relating to cannabis, to the Poison Centre in Washington state. This means that even with restrictions on buying cannabis, more people unintentionally ingest cannabis. This is true even among those under 20.
Colorado is also inflicted by this trend. In 2016, the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics reported that "the rates of cannabis" exposure in young children, many of them toddlers, have increased 150% − this is for toddlers − since 2014 when recreational marijuana products went on the market legally." All of these are totally preventable. Most of the time, the cannabis came from family or friends. Attractive edible cannabis caused half of the known exposures. The pictures on this slide show edible cannabis and they give you an idea of how children can be so easily attracted to it. Do we want to expose our children to this on our shores? We need to expose these pro-drug lies for what they really are − out for profit.
The pro-drug camp wraps lies in a palatable way, with phrases like − "right to do recreational drugs", "victimless crime", "harm reduction." The shift in drug policy around the world is not driven by truth about drugs. Rather, in my view, a drug-tolerant culture is fuelled by those who stand to profit. Cannabis is touted to be "the fastest growing industry in America". It is projected to grow from $3.4 billion in 2015 to more than $10 billion by 2019.
Harm reduction is a subversive slogan that calls for a permissive attitude towards drugs. It is touted as pre-emptive, not punitive, not deterrent. But in reality, it is a mere surrender on the war on drugs − it was exceptionally difficult in those countries to substantially stem the supply of drugs into their borders. This must never happen in Singapore.
How do we ensure this? The first suggestion is that we include clear and informative learning material in our MOE Science syllabus, which should detail the host of ills and harmful effects of experimenting with drugs. Make it examinable material. We need to start young and reinforce it regularly by putting it in the Primary and Secondary school syllabus. Students have to be convinced. They need credible answers. We must address counter-arguments.
Another important aspect of exposing propaganda is not just telling the truth, but also teaching how to find the truth. This is especially important as young people increasingly turn to the Internet as a source of information. Hence, it is important that students be equipped with the skills to (a) find credible sources of information and (b) be alert to the rhetoric used by the pro-drug camp. Pro-drug rhetoric says that drugs will solve problems, but is there another solution? People need to know that there is another solution. They need to be shown this.
Started in Sweden, Mentor International, "provide(s) support, best practices and evidence-based mentoring programs that offer young people the inspiration, empowerment and motivation they need to make healthy life choices and view their futures more positively." The idea behind it is for students to have a guide to navigate through life − this increases the propensity to stay clear of drugs.
Parents play a big role in drug prevention. There are two things that people, generally, and parents, in particular, in my view, need to know even before they are ready to hear any information they need to on drugs. They need to know that: (a) it is a matter that they should be concerned about; and (b) that they matter − that parents matter.
Essentially, family is key. Where the family is dysfunctional, a good peer group is key. If no good peer group exists, then the at-risk youth needs to equip himself with ways to disbelieve that drugs are good. I have given some examples of how the at-risk youth can equip himself. Ultimately, the anti-drug culture must win the war against pro-drug propaganda. The mindshare of Singapore's youth is a key battleground − the pro-drug camp must be defeated there.
Madam, in conclusion, we should fortify the arsenal and weaponry of Singapore in her fight against drugs. We should be at liberty to use the best weaponry for this crucial battle on our shores.
We can build and share a common prosperity or we can disintegrate into a common poverty of spirit, a potential social abyss, which drugs can bring, insidiously, stealthily. The choice is ours. I hope, today, this House will fight against the pro-drug propaganda.
*Question proposed.*
Mdm Speaker, I stand in support of this Motion. The drug scourge in Singapore, while numbers are relatively low compared to many developed countries, still remains a cause for concern.
According to our Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) 2016 report on the drug situation in Singapore, there are two trends that merit serious concerns.
First, the number of new drug abusers arrested in 2016 increased by 3% compared to the year before. In 2015, there were 1,309 new drug abusers arrested. This number increased to 1,347 in 2016. Almost two-thirds of these new abusers are below 30 years old. In addition, out of the total of 3,245 drug abusers arrested in 2016, slightly over 40% of them are below 30 years old.
Second, CNB has also seen an increase in online drug peddling last year. The number of people arrested for buying drugs and drug-related items through online means increased significantly from 30 in 2015 to 201 in 2016. This is a five-and-a-half time increase in numbers. The majority of them are between the ages of 20 and 39.
These numbers are worrying, especially when a survey conducted by the National Council Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) in 2016 found that young people below the age of 30 were more open-minded towards drugs, compared to similar findings in 2013.
Such liberal attitudes towards drug use cannot be tolerated. The harmful effects of drugs may not be fully understood by the young people who are using drugs, who may believe that recreational use of drugs is well within their control and that they will not be addicted to it, or that there will not be any damaging long-term effects on their physical or mental well-being.
While CNB may have stepped up its youth outreach efforts through the use of technology and social media, a more targeted approach framework needs to be found to specifically reach out to Primary and Secondary school students and students studying in our post-Secondary institutions, starting with those who are in their early to mid-teens.
My 18-year-old son, who is studying in a local polytechnic, shares with me about two of his friends who are not just smoking cigarettes, but also taking drugs. They are quite nonchalant about it and seem to think it is no big deal. They even offered my son to smoke weed or join them in taking a puff to get high, to which he sensibly and thankfully declined.
One of his friends, also a polytechnic student, smokes weed or marijuana in the polytechnic itself. Another of his friends is an ITE student who was caught for smoking weed. While he is undergoing follow-up checks through routine urine tests, he continues to take synthetic weed, which he claims cannot be detected through the urine tests.
While I must state that these are only two of his many friends who otherwise lead drug-free and healthy lifestyles, I am calling for CNB, the Police, the Health Promotion Board and our Institutes of Higher Learning to go all out to stop such drug use and abuse in our educational institutions, even if the numbers are small and seemingly insignificant.
[Deputy Speaker (Mr Charles Chong) in the Chair]
This outreach, engagement and targeted public education against drug use and abuse should also be done concurrently with the fight against smoking. To me, the addiction to smoking and drug use is one and the same, and should be done in tandem, since the smoking habit seems to create a propensity towards smoking or taking drugs as well. In addition, I hope CNB and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) can find ways to curb online peddling of drugs more effectively and take tougher enforcement actions on those who are buying drugs online. Never mind that the amount of drugs is small, and never mind that the perpetrators are committing it for the first time, but that they are young. The message must be clear. We do not tolerate drug trafficking and use. At this point, Deputy Speaker, Sir, please allow me to continue in Malay.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The war on drugs is a joint effort by all of us. We need pervasive approaches so as to reach out to and educate our young on the damaging and irreversible effects of both smoking and drug use. Support and assistance from influential personalities and positive role models that our young look up to, strengthen this approach. I understand that local personalities, such as Taufik Batisah and Irfan Fandi, have joined in this fight against drug abuse by offering their time and energy. I look forward to more support from such personalities and positive role models for our young.
At the same time, support from home is also important in shaping positive mindsets among our youths in this fight against drug abuse. We need parents to be positive role models for their children − not just by advising them to stay drug-free or smoke-free − but to also role model positive behaviour and healthy lifestyles, free from addiction of any sort.
This reminds me of one of my residents. Ms Lydia is still relatively young, barely 40 years old. But each time I met her, she looked haggard and worried, as though she was over 50 years old. Her husband is incarcerated because of drug abuse even though he is already in his 50s. And this is not the first time he had been in prison because of drugs. They have three children − two studying in primary school and one who is three years old.
Throughout the time Ms Lydia is married to her husband, she did not work and depended on him for financial support. With her husband's recent incarceration, Ms Lydia finds herself with no source of income. We tried our best to help her by providing her with temporary financial assistance. At the same time, we also helped Ms Lydia find part-time work and get a place for her youngest child in a childcare centre so that Ms Lydia can work. Although Ms Lydia is a strong woman who remains undaunted, the social and emotional impact on her and her children, who are now unable to see their father, is quite deep and cannot be easily forgotten. Their family relationship has definitely been affected.
Support from the family is much needed, not just when our children or family member have succumbed to drug addiction or smoking, but even before they become a slave to addiction. Developing positive habits and a healthy lifestyle − such as doing sports as a family, spending time on a common hobby with family members and close friends, or by volunteering and doing meaningful work for our community − will help each and every one of us to keep addiction at bay.
(In English): I must admit that the drug scourge in Singapore is not isolated or that only our local agencies have to step up in terms of outreach, education and enforcement. The drug scourge is certainly a global one.
What is equally worrying is the callous claims by some pro-cannabis and pro-marijuana proponents that small amounts of cannabis use is perfectly alright, or that there are medical conditions, such as glaucoma or Parkinson's disease, that can be managed through daily doses of cannabis or marijuana or ganga, whatever name it is known as. We would also need the help of medical professionals and research experts to verify such claims and, more importantly, to curb the incorrect perception that small doses of drug use on a daily basis are perfectly fine.
Sir, the drug situation is far from rosy and the fight against drug use and abuse is far from over. We would need all parties to come together to do this to help ourselves and our future generations − parents, schools, the Government, popular personalities − all have important roles to play. We need to do this together.
Getting rid of an addiction is certainly not easy. It takes a lot of courage, discipline and inner strength and, of course, support from our loved ones. But it is not impossible.
When it comes to addiction: "I can choose to let it define me; confine me; outshine me; or I can choose to move on and leave it behind me." Thank you, Sir. I support the Motion.
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