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| AsiaViews, Edition: 45/VI/February2010 |
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| More than half arrested used heroin |
SINGAPORE - Even as drug enforcement continues to pay off, the fight against heroin abuse seems to be a hard nut to crack.
Though there has been a drop in drug abusers collared - down 2.5 per cent to 1,876 in 2009 from the 1,925 arrested the previous year - heroin abuse is on the rise.
Going by 2009 statistics released by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) yesterday, heroin users made up 58 per cent of drug abusers arrested last year.
Heroin abuse also registered a whopping 22 per cent increase, going up to 1,079 related arrests in 2009 from 885 the year before.
The jump is huge but CNB deputy director Ng Ser Song said it was "not something I'd be concerned about".
Heroin abuse numbers decreased during the years Subutex - or heroin replacement therapy drug buprenorphine - was legally available, he added.
Explaining the rise in users, Mr Ng said many of them switched back to heroin when Subutex was made illegal in 2006.
Subutex arrests remained low in 2009 - there was a 65 per cent decrease and the share of buprenorphine abusers shrank from 19 per cent in 2008 to 7 per cent last year.
On the other hand, methamphetamine - also known as "Ice" - has replaced Subutex as the second most commonly abused drug last year, forming 19 per cent of all drug abusers arrested.
Mr Ng said CNB continued to be vigilant: Last year 7,099 raids were mounted, an increase of four per cent compared to 2008, and 28 drug trafficking syndicates were smashed.
However, Singapore's proximity to drug producing areas in the Golden Triangle is one of the reasons for the increase in numbers.
To combat this, Mr Ng said CNB will continue to collaborate with regional partners to bust syndicates while continuing with rigorous enforcement inland.
Repeat offenders also continued to form the majority - 71 per cent - of abusers arrested last year.
Among them, 73 per cent were liable for long-term imprisonment of between five to 13 years to prevent them from "contaminating" others, said Mr Ng.
The number of drug abusers arrested across all age groups dropped except for a two per cent rise in the 20 to 29 age group.
However, abusers aged 40 and above still formed the majority - 44 per cent - of those arrested last year. New drug abusers also went up slightly from 508 in 2008 to 544 last year.
The number of abusers all fell across all ethnic groups expect for the Indian community, which saw 284 arrests last year compared to 238 the year before. |
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| By Zul Othman |
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| Today, 04 February 2010 |
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