Permissive attitudes towards cannabis likely due to pervasive misinformation: Josephine Teo
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 11 Mar 2025
Author: Andrew Wong
She also noted that the cost of drug crime to Singapore was $1.2 billion in 2015, according to a Nanyang Technological University study, despite the nation’s strong drug control regime.
Misinformation on cannabis is pervasive, along with all kinds of claims about the drug, amid a bleak global drug situation.
This likely contributed to a more permissive attitude towards cannabis among young people, according to surveys, said Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo.
“There are all kinds of ridiculous claims. For example, cannabis is natural, so it must be safe... or cannabis is not very different from alcohol and tobacco,” she said.
Despite the nation’s strong drug control regime, she noted, the cost of drug crime to Singapore was $1.2 billion in 2015, according to a Nanyang Technological University study.
Mrs Teo, who is also Minister for Digital Development and Information, was speaking to more than 900 participants at the DrugFreeSG Champions Conference at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre on March 10.
The conference recognises the champions, such as educators, student leaders, counsellors and youth workers, who spread drug-free messages in their communities.
“These assertions, however, cannot be further from the truth. The science on cannabis is very clear, and it is compelling. Cannabis is addictive, with far-reaching and irreversible health effects,” she said.
She pointed out that physical ailments arising from cannabis consumption include headache and nausea, as well as more severe effects such as psychosis, memory issues and mood swings.
Mrs Teo said it is unfortunate that other jurisdictions are experimenting with cannabis for recreational use despite having access to the same research findings.
“This is dangerous and irresponsible because they are essentially experimenting with the lives of their people. And the experiments have invariably failed,” she said.
Pointing to Thailand, Mrs Teo said the number of cannabis addicts quadrupled within six months of decriminalising the drug, prompting the authorities to try to recriminalise its use, but to no avail.
“The Thai government had then intended to recriminalise the use of cannabis, but faced fierce opposition from those seeking to profit from it. So that shows very clearly, once you decriminalise (it), you will find it very difficult to roll things back,” she added.
Results from regular surveys show that young people in Singapore appear to have a more liberal attitude towards drugs, she said.
And abusers are starting at a much younger age. The youngest drug abuser arrested in 2024 was just 13 years old, according to statistics from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB). More than 80 per cent of the 156 abusers under the age of 20 arrested in 2024 were newly convicted.
In 2022, The Straits Times commissioned a survey of 1,000 Singaporeans and permanent residents, asking if they would consider legalising cannabis only for medical purposes.
More than half, or 53 per cent, said yes. Of the 1,000 respondents, 59 per cent of those aged 16 to 34 voted yes. The number dropped slightly to 57 per cent among those aged 35 to 44, to 50 per cent among those aged 45 to 54, and 44 per cent among those aged 55 and above.
CNB’s statistics also showed more than half of new cannabis abusers arrested in 2024 were below 30 years old.
The number of people arrested for cannabis abuse in 2024 stood at 199, down from 276 in 2023.
The total number of drug abusers arrested in 2024 was 3,119, down 0.1 per cent from the 3,122 nabbed in 2023.
Mrs Teo said the authorities continued to make large seizures of cannabis in Singapore in 2024, suggesting a strong demand for the drug.
Just one week ago, CNB officers arrested a couple in the vicinity of Kaki Bukit Road 3. Some 4.99kg of cannabis, among many other drugs, was found at the man’s hideout in the same building.
CNB said many vape devices, cartridges and edibles suspected to contain tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, were also recovered. THC is the main psychoactive compound found in cannabis that causes users to feel “high”.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the event, Professor Bertha Madras, who teaches psychobiology at Harvard Medical School, said Singapore’s drug policy of zero tolerance is working as it helps to minimise young people’s access to drugs.
She said Singapore should not soften its approach as that would inadvertently help those who want to abuse drugs despite the consequences.
“Even if only 10 per cent of the abusers develop long-term issues, we still have to protect them. And sometimes draconian laws are needed to protect that 10 per cent of people,” she said.
Mrs Teo said that in Singapore, one in four prisoners convicted of non-drug crimes had drug-related prior offences.
This could be in the form of committing robbery to feed their drug habit, or committing violence while under the influence of drugs.
In February, Foo Li Ping, 29, and Wong Shi Xiang, 38, pleaded guilty to several charges after they had caused the death of Foo’s four-year-old daughter through drug abuse.
The couple had ignored Megan Khung’s cry for help after Wong had beaten her on Feb 21, 2020, and taken drugs together instead.
Instead of calling for the ambulance when they found the girl motionless and unresponsive hours later, they hid her body and concocted a plan to incinerate it.
In September 2024, a man was sentenced to 21½ years’ jail and 18 strokes of the cane after he was found guilty of culpable homicide.
The man had consumed methamphetamine before hitting his two-year-old daughter, Umaisyah, causing her to go into a concussive seizure. She later died of her injuries.
In September 2022, a man was sentenced to more than nine years’ jail after he was found guilty of driving under the influence of drugs. He had led police on a high-speed chase after he noticed a police car following him on the highway. He was driving without a licence and had illicit drugs inside the vehicle.
He eventually hit a pedestrian in Toa Payoh, leaving her with multiple injuries, before crashing into a road divider.
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
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