Pubdate: Mon, 02 May 2016
Source: Straits Times (Singapore)
Copyright: 2016 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.
Contact:  http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/429

SOFT DRUG POLICIES A RISKY ADDICTION

The long war on drugs is taking its toll elsewhere, it seems, with 
some countries pushing for a less hardline approach.

What the new approach, euphemistically named "harm reduction", 
embodies in reality is that the war is already half lost. It assumes 
that since a world free of drugs is plausibly impossible, policies 
should be tailored to minimise the harm associated with their use. 
The approach includes the provision of clean needles for drug abusers 
and supervised injection sites.

An associated development is the relaxation of sanctions on certain drugs.

Four states in the United States have legalised the sale of 
recreational marijuana.

Canada's plan to legalise access to the drug (although regulating and 
restricting it) indicates the problematic direction being taken by 
some developed countries. This shift away from prohibition and 
criminalisation in liberal jurisdictions is occurring in spite of the 
fact that the use of cannabis is associated with possible health 
problems that include cognitive and respiratory impairment and 
psychotic episodes.

Here, again, is an instance of a mindset which implies that, since 
the use of all drugs cannot be controlled completely, the authorities 
ought to let "softer" drugs off the hook and focus on the lethal varieties.

This is defeatism masquerading as realism.

Once the addictive and destructive potential of a drug is clear, a 
criminal justice approach that enforces abstinence should be strictly 
adopted rather than half-hearted policies that send out mixed signals 
on the direction ahead.

Singapore's anti-drug war is based on its own experience of having 
once been a haven for the scourge.

Drugs ravaged individuals, families and society at large.

Drug abuse made addicts incapable of performing as responsible 
citizens and fomented a culture of exploitation and gang-related violence.

Hence Singapore's zero-tolerance approach as embodied in the Misuse 
of Drugs Act, which criminalises the trafficking, manufacturing, 
import and export, possession and consumption of controlled drugs.

In the face of trends elsewhere, Singapore has to make clear its 
unambiguous rejection of any shift in the global war on drugs.

Soft approaches might well represent the thin edge of the wedge as 
similar thinking might creep into how other persistent social ills 
are tackled. By tolerating lesser evils, the state and society might 
wind up doing more to mitigate their effects in different social 
spheres. Rolling back measures might prove difficult after harmful 
acts are decriminalised. There is a place, of course, for "soft" 
strategies like the rehabilitation of drug offenders which remains a 
tenet of Singapore's anti-narcotics philosophy. But the nation simply 
cannot afford to view drugs as a lifestyle choice, just because 
others are doing so. No one knows this better than a parent or spouse 
of a sad victim of drug abuse.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom