Southeast Asia: Singapore Gives Treatment Option to Marijuana, Cocaine Users

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #495)
Consequences of Prohibition
Politics & Advocacy

Beginning August 1, marijuana and cocaine users caught in Singapore will face mandatory treatment at Drug Rehabilitation Centers, the Central Narcotics Bureau announced Wednesday. That means cocaine snorters and pot smokers will be given the same shot at "rehabilitation" as other drug users in the Southeast Asian city-state. Previously, marijuana and cocaine users were not eligible for treatment and faced stiff prison sentences.

[inline:singaporecnb.jpg align=right caption="Singapore Central Narcotics Bureau logo"]But they better get it right the first time. People who undergo treatment and relapse and get arrested again will face a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence and three strokes of the cane. Third offenders are looking at seven years and six strokes of the cane.

People who undergo "rehabilitation" and suffer relapses face a mandatory minimum seven-year prison sentence, as well as between six and 12 strokes of the cane.

Singapore has some of the world's toughest drug trafficking laws, and its Misuse of Drugs Act includes the death penalty for some drug offenses, including the trafficking of more than 660 grams (slightly more than one pound) of marijuana. Now, it will also have some of the world's harshest marijuana law enforcement directed at users.

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Comments

Anonymous (not verified)

The Singaporeans are fascist torturers, something that is typical of the ant-like mentality of many Asian countries. They beat or kill anybody not toeing their line. The common people in Singapore need to arm themselves against their vicious and oppressive government of sadists.

Harry Fisher

Sat, 07/28/2007 - 2:39pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Stop spewing rubbish. The common people in Singapore need to arm themselves against morons like you. Vicious and oppressive government.. lol... rolled off my chair when I saw this

Sun, 04/13/2008 - 7:55am Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Marijuana is one of the most medicinal plants known to man. Cannabinoids (THC, CBN, etc) have been shown to kill cancer, among many other things.

The war on marijuana is completely ignorant. Millions of lives could be saved.

Tue, 10/28/2008 - 4:26am Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

There is never a war on LEGAL usage of marijuana, such as those for medical uses.

However, indiscriminate usage is never encouraged as it is a substance which breeds dependency and results in neurological damage upon prolong usage.

Thu, 12/03/2009 - 1:20am Permalink
Randy Cuban (not verified)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

You are giving wrong information. Marijuana does not give any brain damage even at prolonged use. Don't be stupid. Marijuana is the only drug that will cure all! Marijuana has no side effects. No one has died of marijuana for 5,000 years of plant's history. Cannabis Oil will cure all diseases. That makes it illegal because Rothschild Zionist Pharma want's to kill people, and Marijuana will fail them. They want to get money from there 200Billion Cancer industry in the US alone. Wake up people! The cure can be planted, it is free!

Sat, 08/18/2012 - 10:31pm Permalink
Edmund (not verified)

In reply to by Randy Cuban (not verified)

Randy is 100% correct.  The amount of money/power vested in keeping Americans sick, stupid, and servile is unfathomable -- having worked in government, finance, academia, and private security, I can vouch for it.

Marijuana and other drugs are illegal not because the government cares about an individual's health and wellbeing -- far from it, or pot would be regulated at least as lightly as alcohol, which medical science has proven to be far more addictive and poisonous than any cannabis product.

America's outdated "War on Drugs" is, quite simply, an economic matter....the "war" is about millions of jobs (police, ATF, DEA, FBI, local/state/federal court systems, district attorneys, investigators, rehab clinics, pharmaceutical companies, life insurers) -- and on top of that, millions of additional jobs dedicated to providing technology, material, and support services to the indicated entities.

Without the work generated by counter-narcotics initiatives (from anti-smuggling patrols to insurer-mandated drug tests), a large part of the US economy would wither, because it lacks certain structural features common to European nations -- among these, government paid programs intended to enact "social progress,' including sane drug policies.

Remove the criminality from drug use and the whole rotten system begins to crumble.

Fri, 01/23/2015 - 2:20pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Lol. Get yourself an education Harry Fisher, and then talk. Goddamned white folks think they know everything..

Wed, 06/04/2008 - 4:44am Permalink
.... (not verified)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Harry does make a good point about some of the SEA countries. Some of the drug prohibition laws are a bit unreasonable and the government should be more lenient about some drug use such as Marijuana, Marijuana is not an abusive drug, You cant overdose on it, its not even a gateway drug. I see it as one of the most efficient way to give the government an economic boost if some of these drugs were legal. You can sell them as if they were packs of cigarettes and fund the health care system, not only that, open up millions of jobs for singaporeans such as myself. Not to mention singapore will be able to trim the secret society by one half if the drugs were legal so then nobody will be able to sell them. We wouldnt have these teenagers getting slashed or any of this Salakau nonsense anymore, neither our suspicions that Singapore's CNB is either extremely misinformed about drug use, or is just making cold cash by redistributing what they repossess from drug dealers. There needs to be some change in government within these few years or I will just going to leave like everybody else who is sick and tired of fighting for this diluted country. 

Sun, 12/26/2010 - 6:01pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

The point isn't weather treatment works, the point is that what one puts into their body, their holly vessel, isn't the gov's busyness.

Fri, 12/19/2008 - 8:29pm Permalink

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