A pinch of weed – then locked up in mandatory drug rehab

Kim* is a young professional who started using marijuana when her family life became chaotic. The situation improved, but his drug habit continued, and by then his social circle consisted mostly of people who used drugs. Kim’s friends, a reliable local weed supplier, asked her if she could get some weed for them.

“That’s what I did,” Kim says. “I didn’t mention the price at all because it was friendship…like I was helping you buy something we both use.”

Singapore, where Kim lives, has some of the toughest drug laws in the world.

If you are selling, delivering, distributing, managing, transporting or distributing narcotics, this is drug trafficking. The law also assumes that you are a trafficker if you possess quantities of drugs that exceed certain weight thresholds.

Kim’s life quickly turned upside down when one of his friends, from whom he had been supplying marijuana, was caught by the state’s Central Narcotics Bureau.

Kim was named as the supplier of the marijuana and he was also seized. After authorities examined his phone, another friend was arrested and Kim was charged with drug trafficking.

“I was struck with horror,” he says. “For smuggling charges to be brought against me? This was really challenging. I felt complete and utter fear of what would result for me.

Recreational marijuana has been decriminalized in many parts of the world. 24 states in the US have legalized it. Although cannabis is illegal in the UK, penalties for cannabis possession have decreased rapidly in recent years.

In Singapore, if you are caught with 15 grams you are presumed to be smuggling, and with 500 grams or more the death penalty is mandatory.

This is a controversial policy and few new cases. The last execution of a 64-year-old man on heroin charges took place on October 16.

The Singapore government will not tell the BBC how many people are currently sentenced to death.

Death penalty becomes mandatory in drug cases in Singapore

• 15g diamorphine (heroin)
• 30g cocaine
• 500g cannabis
• 250g methamphetamine

Kim does not face execution but could face a lengthy prison sentence.

“The minimum sentence will be five years,” he says. “Worst-case scenario could take up to 20 years”

While Kim awaits the verdict on the smuggling charges, her friends have already been taken care of. But no lawsuit was filed against them. Classified as drug consumers rather than traffickers, they faced very different treatment.

They were each sent to the state-run Drug Rehabilitation Center for six months.

A person caught using an illegal substance in Singapore is considered low, medium or high risk. Only people deemed to be at low risk of reoffending are allowed to stay at home and are monitored in the community.

Everyone else, even first-time offenders, is sent to compulsory rehabilitation.

There is no dedicated residential rehab in Singapore; No wandering around in fluffy bathrobes and then retiring to your own en-suite room.

The Drug Rehabilitation Center (DRC) is a large complex run by the Singapore Prison Service, which makes sense because it’s incarceration by any other name. There are barbed wires, control rooms and security cameras everywhere. Guards patrol the walking paths.

In December 2023, 3,981 Singaporeans were prisoners; about 1 in 8 of them were women.

Institution S1 houses approximately 500 uniformly dressed male inmates, most of whom are first- or second-time drug offenders.

There are seven or eight people in a cell. Behind a waist-high wall are two toilets and a shower. There is no bed. The men sleep on thin mats on the concrete floor. And a prisoner, even if he is an ordinary drug user and not an addict, will spend at least six months here.

“Even though it’s rehabilitation, it’s still a very aversive regime,” says Supt Ravin Singh. “We don’t want to make your stay too comfortable.”

Men spend up to six hours a day in a classroom on psychology-based lessons.

“The aim is to motivate prisoners to stay away from drugs, renew their lives without them, and eliminate negative thoughts about drugs,” says Lau Kuan Mei, Deputy Director of the Prison Rehabilitation Service.

“They teach us a lot about how to manage triggers for drug use,” says Jon*, who is in his late 20s and nearing the end of his six-month stay.

Jon has a history of methamphetamine use and was one of the prisoners selected by prison officials to speak to the BBC.

Meth (also known as crystal or ice) is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant and the most frequently abused drug in Singapore and the region.

On a weekday afternoon earlier this year, Central Narcotics Bureau officers arrived at Jon’s home, where he lived with his family. He spoke to his shocked mother before taking her away.

“He said, ‘Learn your lesson, pay your dues and come back clean,’” Jon recalls.

This is what it aims to do; But he also knows it won’t be easy.

“It’s exciting to leave,” he says. “But I’m also nervous… You’re locked in here and you’re not dealing with drugs.”

Jon worries that he might be tempted to take meth again. The rehabilitation program was mandatory, not voluntary, as it might have been if he lived in North America or Europe. Even so, this may not affect his chances of staying drug-free.

Dr., an addiction psychiatrist working in Singapore’s government institutions. “If you look at evidence-based policies regarding drug addiction…it doesn’t really matter whether the treatment offered is voluntary or not,” says Muni Winslow.

He thinks the treatment offered to drug users has improved.

“It’s so much better now because there are so many psychologists and counselors throughout the criminal justice system who are trained in addictions.”

Historically, drugs were viewed as a criminal justice issue rather than a health issue in Singapore.

While the state’s execution of traffickers continues to define the government’s and most Singaporeans’ views on narcotics, it has not prevented changes in the treatment of drug users. For example, no one who spends time in a rehabilitation center has a criminal record.

“We spoke to psychologists and addiction experts and our thinking evolved,” explains Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam. “If they’re not a threat to society, we don’t need to treat them like criminals.”

Singapore devotes huge resources to ensuring people stay clean after leaving the DRC. Most importantly, they are helped to find a job.

But although officials say the system has changed, critics believe it is still humane.

The Transformative Justice Collective, a group campaigning against the death penalty, describes DRC as a form of forced detention in which prisoners face “humiliation” and “loss of freedom”.

The group says the centre’s programs are superficial and focus on “shame”, failing to tackle the root causes of drug addiction.

“We’ve seen a lot of lives turned upside down and a lot of trauma happening from being arrested, being incarcerated, having to share a cell,” says Kirsten Han.

“It causes a lot of stress and instability. These are not harms caused by drugs. These are harms caused by the war on drugs.”

Probation remains a critical part of the nation’s mission to keep former inmates clean.

A neat-looking man in his 50s arrives at an inspection center. He was in and out of the Drug Rehabilitation Center six times, struggling with heroin. However, for the past 26 months he has not been drug-free, lives at home and is monitored with an electronic tag. His sentence is now over.

He is overjoyed when the tag is cut off, and after exchanging a few words with Community Corrections director Karen Lee, he quickly leaves.

“He looks healthy,” he says. “And we hope the same for all our supervisees… While three in 10 return as persistent drug addicts, we must not forget that there are also seven supervisees who successfully lead their lives as reintegrated citizens of Singapore.”

When he was tagged, the former heroin user had another incentive to stay clean: regular urine analysis. Singapore’s state-of-the-art Urine Inspection Booths are the first of their kind in the world.

When the person being audited enters the cabin, the door is locked behind him. After urinating in the urinal, the technology tests for drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and heroin. It takes about seven minutes.

“It’s not that boring; we made videos for him to watch, just like Mr. Bean!” says Karen Lee.

If the test comes back negative, the green light comes on and the man is free to go. A red light indicates a positive test result and the person being inspected is arrested again.

Singapore’s zero tolerance policy does not distinguish between casual drug users and those with addiction. While punishment is no longer front and center in the system, Singapore maintains draconian practices, including a legal requirement for doctors to report patients to authorities if they disclose their use of narcotics. This can deter people from getting help for problematic drug addiction.

However, the harshest treatment is directed at those convicted of human trafficking. Kim, who supplies marijuana for his friends, is trying to stay busy while waiting for the court’s decision on the charges against him.

“When I heard there was little chance of me not serving my sentence, I took some time,” Kim says. “I’ll be grieving for almost the entire period of my life. I think I’ve accepted prison on a deeper level. It doesn’t get any easier as the day gets closer.”

It would not be unusual if Kim is imprisoned as he expects. In December 2023, nearly half of the country’s convicted prison population (2,299 people) was serving time for drug crimes.

*All names have been changed.

Singapore: Drugs, rehabilitation, execution

It is known that the laws against illegal drugs in Singapore are quite strict. Penalties for human trafficking include the death penalty, but the government maintains its zero-tolerance policy is effective.

If you are caught using any illegal drug, including marijuana, you may find yourself in mandatory rehab. BBC reporter Linda Pressly approached Singapore authorities and was granted access to the state’s strict Drug Rehabilitation Centre.

He talks to drug users who are forced to stay in the facility for months before being released back into the community under supervision.