SINGAPORE — Singapore is "fighting a war" against traffickers who profit off the drug trade at the expense of thousands of innocent lives, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said.

He framed Singapore's fight against drugs as a war due to the "scale in terms of victims and lost lives" in this battle.

Delivering a ministerial statement on Singapore's national drug control policy in Parliament on Wednesday (May 8), Mr Shanmugam pointed to statistics from various sources such as the World Health Organization, which reported 600,000 deaths in 2019 due to drug use, and the World Drug Report's estimates in the same year where 31 million years of "healthy" life were lost due to disability and premature deaths as a result of drug use.

"These are not mere statistics, but lives — of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters," he said.

He also said that he was delivering the ministerial statement because even though Singapore's strict narcotics policies are effective and supported by Singaporeans, they are criticised "without merit" by some parties who are helping inmates to abuse legal process and prevent penalties against drug traffickers from being carried out.

In his speech, Mr Shanmugam cited examples of how different countries and cities across the world have been affected by drugs, adding that Singapore is not exempt from the problems that these countries face.

In particular, Singapore is a target for traffickers because the street price of drugs here is much higher than other parts of the region.

"In this war, we will have to decide: Do we want to go soft, and risk ending up like the countries I have spoken about earlier?" he asked.

"Do we want to become a 'narco-state', an 'infamous brown town', or a hotbed for drugs and violence?" 

He was referring to how Barrow-in-Furness in the United Kingdom has become known as the country's "most infamous brown town" due to it being plagued with drug-related problems.

In order to continue Singapore's fight against the drug scourge, Mr Shanmugam reiterated that maintaining the death penalty is important to help the country defend itself and save "thousands of lives".

"You remove the death penalty, drug trafficking will go up significantly. There will be more robberies, housebreakings and so on because drug abusers will need money to buy drugs.

"There will also be — evidence shows — more sexual assaults, more homicides and definitely, many more people will die in Singapore."

He noted that Singapore's "strict approach" has saved many lives.

In the 1990s, the Central Narcotics Bureau arrested about 6,000 drug abusers a year. The number has halved to about 3,000, even though the supply of drugs in the region has "exploded" and Singaporeans' purchasing power has increased significantly.

"This is the war that we are fighting in Singapore. And if we don’t fight it, or if we lose it, then thousands in Singapore will suffer."

DRUG VICTIMS REMEMBRANCE DAY

In his speech, Mr Shanmugam said that a new “Drug Victims Remembrance Day” will be introduced this year for Singaporeans to come together and remember the suffering of families and loved ones of drug abusers.

He gave examples of cases where innocent lives were lost to drug abuse such as the Commonwealth double murder, where a man killed his mother and grandmother under the influence of LSD, a psychedelic drug.

He first announced the plan for this Remembrance Day in March during a parliamentary debate on the Ministry of Home Affairs' budget.

On Wednesday, Mr Shanmugam said that the aim of the initiative is to "drive home the message that the harms of drugs are far-reaching and require a strong response from society". 

As part of the initiative, an inaugural observance event will be held along Orchard Road at the Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza on May 17, where there will be a candlelight display in remembrance of victims of drug abuse.

This will be followed by roving exhibitions across eight different locations around Singapore, which will be held from May to July.

Mr Shanmugam added that schools under the Ministry of Education and institutes of higher learning will also organise various activities such as lessons, special assemblies and an essay competition for young people in post-secondary educational institutions on Remembrance Day.

This is to "encourage conversations and reflections on the impact of drug abuse".

SINGAPORE'S APPROACH TOWARDS DRUG CONTROL

On Singapore's policies on drug control, Mr Shanmugam said that while it seeks to help drug abusers, the country takes a tough stance against drug traffickers, reiterating the country's "zero tolerance" for traffickers who destroy the lives of others in society.

He said that the death penalty is only imposed on individuals who traffic specified amounts.

"For example, a person who traffics 15g of pure heroin, which is enough to feed the addiction of about 180 abusers for a week, will face capital punishment," he added.

"It is not easy for us... to decide to have capital punishment as part of the penalties in law.

"But the evidence shows that it is necessary to protect our people, prevent the destruction of thousands of families, and prevent the loss of thousands of lives. That is why we maintain the death penalty."

As for low-risk, first-time adult drug abusers, they will generally undergo counselling in the community, along with regular urine or hair testing. "This minimises disruption to their daily lives while ensuring that their addiction issues are addressed," he said. 

Beyond the mandated supervision period, the Singapore Prison Service also works with Yellow Ribbon Singapore and its community partners to help drug abusers, such as by assisting former inmates with career coaching and job placement opportunities.

The journey to recovery for drug abusers is challenging and requires the support of the many parties such as family members, Mr Shanmugam said.

He then told the House that about 120 former drug abusers and their family members have been invited to join Wednesday's sitting and asked Members of Parliament to recognise their efforts.

They then gave a round of applause. 

FIGHTING MISINFORMATION

Pointing out attempts by activist groups in Singapore to mislead the public with misinformation on drug traffickers and the death penalty, Mr Shanmugam said that these groups seek to evoke sympathy among the masses by "presenting an image of an unfair criminal justice system stacked against drug traffickers". 

These groups publish videos and photos from the trafficker's childhood and interviews with family members to portray the trafficker as a victim of unfortunate circumstances.

What these activists leave out are the facts of the cases and the harms caused to the victims of the traffickers whom they glorify, Mr Shanmugam said.

"They do not give any voice to the victims, the number of lives lost or wrecked by drugs and the reason the traffickers were trafficking the drugs in the first place, which is to make money."

He added that baseless allegations are also made in relation to prisoners awaiting capital punishment in a bid to cast doubt on the process of their conviction and sentence.

He cited the example of how five parties — activist group Transformative Justice Collective, online publication The Online Citizen Asia, Mr Andrew Loh, Ms Kirsten Han and Mr M Ravi — continued to allege that such a prisoner was denied an interpreter during the recording of his statement despite the courts' clear statements to the contrary.

"A blatant, false attack on the criminal justice system," said Mr Shamugam.

He added that some activists went even further as to interfere with the court of justice by filing legal applications on behalf of convicted drug traffickers, often at the last minute.

He noted that the courts have dismissed numerous such applications as being without merit, with one being described as a blatant and ill-disguised application to disrupt the carrying out of the sentence.

To deal with this, Parliament has passed the Post-appeal Applications in Capital Cases Bill, which Mr Shamugam said is expected to be brought into force soon.