Pubdate: Wed, 29 Mar 2006
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Section: Column - The Doctor Game
Copyright: 2006 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact:  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: W. Gifford-Jones MD
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)

SINGAPORE HAS THE RIGHT STUFF IN THE WAR ON CRIME

THIS week I'm mad as hell. My 102-year-old aunt-in-law, a Yankee of 
independent spirit, lives alone in her own house and has been robbed. 
The scoundrel stole $200 in her petty-cash box and then grabbed her 
bottle of sherry, as well.

Now she's anxious, has to lock her door, making it harder for friends 
and neighbours to drop by and check on her. Recently another elderly 
Vancouver woman was robbed and injured in a similar way. She cried, 
"He's a low-down beast and he needs the lash."

Her advice reminded me of a visit to Singapore several years ago. I 
went to Singapore tired of hearing from bleeding hearts that 
punishment does not deter crime.

Before landing in Singapore I was handed a card in the airplane that 
read, "Welcome to Singapore." Printed below in bright red letters was 
the warning: "Death for drug traffickers under Singapore law." No if, 
ands or buts about this welcome. I then spent several days 
researching Singapore's laws and its crime rate. In the 1970s 
Singapore had a serious problem. The use of heroin was spreading to 
young people. And former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew decided to nip 
the trend in the bud. He introduced the death penalty for major drug 
traffickers and some offences were also punishable by caning.

The government realized that nothing would work if drugs were easily 
available. So black-market areas of drug abuse were flooded with 
police 24 hours a day for up to nine months (cities in Canada take 
note). Addicts were sent to treatment centres, major drug dealers 
were hanged and small-time pushers imprisoned.

Criminals quickly realized that not only were these new laws harsh, 
but also police intended to enforce them. Moreover, caning made a 
distinct impression on their backsides and their heads.

Many in North America consider this type of punishment brutal, a 
return to the dark ages. But officials in Singapore told me that only 
five per cent of criminals became repeat offenders after meeting the 
cane (officials and do-gooders take note).

Singapore also has strict gun-control laws. Anyone who possesses a 
firearm to commit a crime is liable to life imprisonment. As a 
result, there are few bank robberies in Singapore (there were 146 in 
Toronto in 2004).

I can already hear readers complaining that my job is to write about 
medicine, not crime. But anxiety and depression come in a variety of 
packages. And my wife's elderly aunt now lives with anxiety that is 
just as real as patients worrying about a stomach ulcer.

Singapore officials have said that North Americans have become 
"irresponsibly permissive." How true! And this attitude starts early. 
Consider how we allow students, hardly out of diapers, to rule the 
classroom, insisting they have their rights, but ignoring any 
responsibility (school boards take note).

This namby-pamby permissiveness results in drug trafficking, 
addiction and finally murder when punishment is soft, delayed or non-existent.

Idiocy today knows no bounds. One of my patients who works in a 
Toronto hostel for women told me that hundreds of dollars in 
government welfare cheques arrive there each month. But as soon as 
the money arrives, many of these women are out on the street using it 
to buy crack cocaine. And it's these women who often give birth to 
brain-damaged children who are disabled for life. Bernard Shaw was 
right when he wrote, "When extraterrestrial beings land on Earth they 
will instantly declare it a lunatic asylum."

So my congratulations to 89-year old Mary Campbell in Vancouver. But 
it shouldn't be left to a senior citizen to suggest caning is what 
her attacker needs, if he's ever caught; not more social workers to 
tend to his psyche or a comfortable jail cell.

I believe my wife's 102-year-old aunt would also favour a good 
thrashing for the thug who robbed her. After all, it's annoying 
enough to lose your pocket money. But when an evil villain has the 
audacity to abscond with your sherry, he should hang by the thumbs in 
the city square.