SINGAPORE: An Asia Times article that accused Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam of “spreading disinformation” about drug policy contained claims which might be “quite inaccurate,” said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Aug 2).
In the object posted on Jul 17, Ms. Gen Sander wrote that Mr. Shanmugam “continues to make poorly knowledgeable and inflammatory claims on drug coverage,” despite Malaysia pronouncing plans to decriminalize drug dependancy and drug ownership for personal use.
Ms. Sanders questioned numerous points Mr. Shanmugam had made on Singapore’s method to tablets at some stage in a seminar on Jun 28, in addition to the veracity of the statistics he had referred to, inclusive of drug mortality costs in Portugal growing after pills were decriminalized.
She additionally wrote that Singapore has failed to provide obvious information on the effectiveness of the loss of life penalty as a deterrent.
“Although officials have time and again affirmed that Singapore has one of the lowest fees of drug use in the international, the government has always didn’t provide obvious statistics,” she stated.
Listing problems with Ms. Sander’s article, MHA stated that records mentioned employing Mr. Shanmugam on Portugal had been obtained from a paper by way of the Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley. It is titled The Effect of Drug Decriminalization in Portugal on Homicide and Drug Mortality Rates (2011).
Ms. Sanders had said that it was “not possible to discover a supply” for figures cited through the minister. She also stated after pills have been decriminalized in Portugal, there was a “dramatic fall” in HIV infections between 2001 and 2008.
“In international locations with a large number of HIV-fine intravenous drug customers, together with Portugal, decriminalization regulations are normally supported through damage reduction programs,” said MHA.
“Their priority is to minimize prices from HIV and different blood-borne infections, rather than to prevent drug abuse because drug abuse is often already pervasive … Such programs may of path help to reduce HIV fees. However, they do little to basically lessen drug abuse in the society.”
It added: “Singapore’s state of affairs is very different. Our drug situation is below control, and we are extraordinarily drug-loose. In 2018, the range of drug abusers arrested comprised less than zero.1 percent of our population.”
On the deterrent effect of the death penalty, Ms. Sander had disputed Mr. Shanmugam’s position, pronouncing in her article: “Punitive drug legal guidelines don’t reduce drug use or drug exchange, and there [is] no proof that the loss of life penalty has a deterrent effect.”
In reaction, MHA stated: “To the opposite, Singapore’s enjoy is that the death penalty whilst blended with other measures, can be powerful deterrence.”
Singapore is one of the few countries globally wherein the drug threat has been contained, no matter a worsening nearby and international drug situation, MHA added.
This, it said, changed because of the USA’s multi-pronged method of preventive drug training, hard laws, and enforcement, in addition to the rehabilitation framework.
“The demise penalty is a crucial part of this comprehensive approach,” MHA stated.
“There is not any international consensus against the death penalty, and it isn’t always prohibited below worldwide law. Every united state has the sovereign proper to decide its personal method to preserve regulation and order and to tackle its drug state of affairs,” it brought.
“Singapore respects the right of countries that have abolished capital punishment, and we count on comparable admire for our choice to retain it.”
