Risk of Vaping Progressing to Drug Abuse and Classifying Vapes under Section 9 of Misuse of Drugs Act to Prevent Abuse

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Ministry has studied (i) the relation of vaping with the increased risk of progressing to drug abuse and (ii) the risk of vapes as an apparatus for delivery mechanism for the consumption of a controlled drug; and (b) whether the Ministry will classify vapes as an apparatus or other article under section 9 of the Misuse of Drugs Act given the risk of vapes being misused for drug abuse.

Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Ministry will consider categorising vapes containing controlled drugs and their associated paraphernalia under the same legal framework as the drugs themselves, imposing similar penalties for trafficking and consumption; and (b) what specific measures are being taken to raise public awareness, particularly among young people, about the dangers of consuming etomidate and other drugs through vapes.

Sir, several overseas studies have shown that vaping increases the risk of drug use. The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) have come across some cases of persons using vapes to consume controlled drugs. These currently form the minority of vape cases in Singapore.

CNB takes a zero-tolerance approach towards the consumption of controlled drugs, regardless of how the drugs are consumed. The trafficking, possession and consumption of controlled drugs using vapes are already offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA). The possession of any apparatus or article, including vapes, for the consumption of controlled drugs, is an offence under section 9 of the MDA.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) takes a multi-pronged approach to curb the illicit sale and use of vapes. HSA works closely with agencies, such as the Singapore Police Force, CNB, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, the National Parks Board and the National Environment Agency, to enforce against vapes. If these agencies detect vaping-related cases in the course of their duties, the cases are referred to HSA. HSA and CNB work together on the investigations against offenders who use vapes to consume controlled drugs.

The Health Promotion Board (HPB) is also working with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to raise awareness about the harms of vaping and encourage our youths to lead a nicotine-free lifestyle. This complements CNB’s preventive drug education efforts, which aims to raise awareness of the harms of drugs, especially among youths, regardless of how they are consumed.

Mr Speaker, I thank the Minister of State for his answer. Sir, a young Singaporean with family in Clementi wrote to me. She is 13 years old and is worried about vaping catching on in schools. A young Clementi resident, 16 years old, told me how they are worried about vaping pods having illegal drugs or even controlled drugs getting into Singapore, because there are advertisements online overseas for how it can be done. So, can I ask the Minister of State two supplementary questions?

Firstly, does the Minister of State agree, given what is happening around the world, that vaping devices are dual use? They can be used to fuel nicotine addiction or they could be used to administer controlled illegal drugs; and if so, will the Ministry consider gazetting vaping devices as gateway devices, given they could be used for both on the ground, which is happening in some parts of the world?

Secondly, the Minister said that the MOH agencies, including HSA, and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) agencies, such as CNB, are working together and refer cases to one another.

Sir, can I ask the Minister, if you cannot be completely sure upfront whether a vaping device is going to be used for nicotine or for a controlled drug, why has MHA not taken more of a lead on this so that MHA resources can better support MOH and HSA, and ensure that we do not become a nation where gateway delivery devices are available widely? Because that will open us up to the risk of foreign drug dealers and foreign drug pushers getting into our heartlands and schools through vapes as a gateway device.

Sir, I thank the Member for sharing his and his residents' concerns about the developments taking place with regard to the use of vapes related to drug consumption, possession or even trafficking methods.

Sir, as I shared earlier, the possession of any apparatus or article, including vapes, for the consumption of controlled drug is an offence under section 9 of the MDA. This is something that I have shared earlier. What is key is that we see globally, that there has been a rise in the liberalisation of attitudes and also decriminalisation relating to drug offences. However, in Singapore, we continue to have a strong stance.

Sir, I would like to thank Members here as well as fellow Singaporeans for working together with us in fighting the scourge of drugs. At the same time, we are not stopping there. Recently, we formed an inter-Ministry committee (IMC) on drug prevention for youths, where we work with the different agencies to go upstream so that our young people and our society not only are aware but know what to do when they come across issues or physically coming across drugs. These are important efforts that we must take on together.

Globally, for drugs, it has become a dangerous setting. But in Singapore, we are also working with like-minded countries to ensure that first, we keep our people safe from the harms of drugs. So, we work with counterparts and over time, you realise that even countries which have liberalised their policies, have come to realised that they are not able to control it. I have met my counterparts who shared with me that, it happened very slowly, but it has damaged and destroyed their people. So, they are also interested to work with us and we want to get more like-minded people and countries to work together to ensure that not only Singapore is safe but the world will be safer so that we can keep the harms of drugs from our people.

Speaker, Sir, I thank the Minister of State for answering and clarifying section 9 of the MDA. In June last year, there was a report in the United Kingdom (UK): one in six vapes confiscated in English schools contained illicit drugs. So, I share the concern of Members who raise Parliamentary Questions of vapes being used as a gateway for drug abuse. Has CNB seen an increase in trend of vapes containing illicit drugs? I understand in the Minister of State's clarification and answer just now, that it forms a small proportion of vapes that have been confiscated, but what is the sense of proportion?

Secondly, what kind of drugs are being used? Because in that UK report, street drugs were found, ketamine were found. What kind of drugs are commonly being used or found in vapes?

Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. For types of drugs, we have found cannabis and synthetic drugs. These are the main common drugs used in vapes. With regard to the numbers, like what I shared earlier, at this moment, it is small. We do not want to be complacent. We continue to work with agencies and our partners and counterparts overseas so that we can not only address this issue, but keep Singapore safe.

Thank you, Mr Speaker and the Minister of State. I thought he gave a very clear response. I have two supplementary questions and both pertain to youths.

First, with reports indicating that youths are aware of the illegality and health risks of vaping, but continue to engage in the practice, what specific measures are the Ministry implementing to address the apparent disconnect between awareness and behaviour among young people?

Secondly, considering the evolving nature of substance abuse methods, what proactive steps are the Ministry taking to anticipate and address potential future trends in drug consumption among youths in Singapore?

Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. These are relevant issues that we need to address.

So, what we do is that we work together with our relevant agencies, not only here, but also our counterparts. In fact, we have very close relationships with our counterparts because drugs move from outside Singapore. So, we also want to understand how it moves and also what kind of strategies are being adopted.

My colleagues and I often meet our counterparts and we share intelligence. At the same time, we make sure that our main purpose is to protect Singaporeans and our country. But we know that it comes from overseas, as such, they are also interested to work with us to learn from us, how we do things. For example, recently, we had the drug Remembrance Day for the victims. Many of the countries have come forward, especially the ASEAN countries, and they want to learn from us and see how they can work together with us on this.

So, this is not only about us learning from them. They also want to learn from us. It is about a partnership, we want to ensure that we keep all people safe and secure. However, you also see that youths in most of these countries are the groups that are being affected by controlled drugs. And the reasons we see from our studies are that at that age, you are more curious, you want to try. I have met youths who told me that no one is at fault. It is just them. Because of their curiosity, they looked at social media and the Internet, and they wanted to experience what addiction is like.

We understand that these are the trends that youths are facing and that are coming into their mind. So, we have programmes and the IMC, which I have shared earlier, to see how, at the various fronts with the agencies as well as community partners, we can go upstream to share with youths the harms of drugs and what kind of pro-social activities and groups they can join to see how they can turn their lives towards positive avenues. Also, there are elements of peer pressure and there are inter-generational elements.

At the National Committee on Prevention, Rehabilitation and Recidivism, we look at the different efforts to see how we can prevent offending and re-offending and it is also for youths. We want to see how we can find new ways and understand the issues better to come up with policies and also, at the same time, work with partners to enhance our efforts in this. This is an ongoing landscape and trend that will always change because of the different facets, different directions taken by different countries.

But we are very clear in our stance. We have a strong stance against drugs and we want to make sure that we protect our people and we want to galvanise our stakeholders and resources within Singapore and outside Singapore, so that while we keep Singapore safe and secure, we keep the countries around us safe so that we are safe and we are able to provide more avenues for a good life for fellow Singaporeans.

Mr Speaker, the Minister of State answered just now that a vaping device will come under section 9 of the MDA if it can be shown that the device is being used for a controlled drug or drug of abuse. Can I ask the Minister of State, how do agencies know in advance if a vaping device – which, by the way, is already illegal – contains nicotine or contains ketamine or some other controlled illegal drug? Does it depend on how prevalent the substance is?

Can I ask the Minister of State, should we not act now before these controlled drugs in vapes become more prevalent, before they reach the one in six that happened in another country that Member Mr Zhulkarnain highlighted, so as to keep our people safe and to keep our children safe for the future?

Sir, I thank the Member again, for his deep concern about the issue. As I shared earlier, we are not waiting. We are already doing. We also understand the overseas landscape, so, we work together with our counterparts.

The nature of drug-related offences or even the kind of investigations we do depends on a lot of intelligence as well. So, it is not as simple as knowing what is controlled or not controlled drugs or nicotine. At the end of the day, it is about how we can work together with the agencies and how we work together with our counterparts.

And, as Members know, it is not easy to detect, but our CNB colleagues have worked very hard and they will continue to work hard to make sure that as much as we can, we will protect our shores, as much as the syndicates want to bring in, we also want to work hard to ensure that it does not come in. But if it comes in, we will take strict enforcement and we want to make sure that we disrupt as many syndicates or efforts to harm our people, as much as possible.