Young people continue to make up majority of first time drug abusers; 3 in 5 below 30 years old
Young people continue to make up the bulk of first-time drug abusers, with three in five offenders below the age of 30.
The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB),in releasing its annual statistics on Thursday (Feb 10), said that people in that age group formed 60 per cent of first-time drug offenders (561 offenders) arrested and 33 per cent (912 offenders) of all drug abusers caught.
It was a slight decline from 2020's figures, where offenders below the age of 30 made up 62 per cent of all first-time abusers and 41 per cent of all drug abusers arrested.
CNB also made fewer arrests last year.
On Thursday, the bureau said it caught a total of 2,724 drug abusers in 2021, down from 3,056 in 2020 and 3,526 in 2019.
Methamphetamine, or Ice as it is commonly called, continues to be the most commonly abused drug in Singapore since 2015, said CNB.
The authorities had previously noted another worrying trend - increasingly liberal attitudes towards drug use among young people in Singapore.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim had last year flagged this as a key challenge for CNB.
He highlighted a 2019 survey by the National Council Against Drug Abuse which showed that people below the age of 30 were less supportive of Singapore's zero-tolerance stance towards drugs than their older peers.
Associate Professor Faishal, who is also Minister of State for National Development, pointed to how pop culture has contributed to the normalisation "and even glamorisation" of drug abuse, which then perpetuates "misperceptions that drugs are not as harmful as they actually are".
To combat this, CNB has organised talks at primary and secondary school to warn students about the dangers of drugs.
The bureau also partners students from Institutes of Higher Learning to co-create projects, to encourage young people to become anti-drug advocates.
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