Singapore is right to be disappointed with the decision by the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) to remove cannabis from the most tightly controlled category of narcotic drugs. The country must stick to its own anti-narcotics protocols so that the massive effort invested over the decades in protecting the population, particularly the young, from drugs is not held hostage by the vagaries of international opinion. As it is, the vote in favour of the change in classification for cannabis and cannabis-related substances was very close at the CND session this week: 27 states voted for it, 25 voted against it, and one state abstained. Clearly, there is no global consensus on the issue. Yet, the successful removal of cannabis from a listing of the most dangerous drugs, such as heroin, would appear to send out the message that it is no longer the menace that it was thought to be.

That is the new danger.