SINGAPORE - Singapore will fund a study on the impact of illicit drug use on societies to enhance the understanding of the world drug problem and help to develop strategies to address the harms.

The findings will be included in the 2025 World Drug Report, which is published by the primary drug policymaking body of the United Nations – the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND).

Speaking in Vienna, Austria, at the 67th session of the CND, Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo said there is a need for decisive, evidence-based and collective solutions amid worsening drug situations in the region and around the world.

“In East and South-east Asia, we have seen a surge in the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs in the last decade, particularly methamphetamine.

“Manufacturing and trafficking of illicit drugs in the ‘Golden Triangle’ region have increased significantly, as transnational organised crime groups expanded and dominated the drug supply markets,” she said, adding that Singapore is concerned with such developments. The Golden Triangle refers to the area where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet.

A 2023 report by the United Nations warned that the region’s synthetic drug supply was at extreme levels, with seizures of methamphetamine, also known as Ice, reaching nearly 151 tonnes in 2022 – a return to pre-pandemic levels.

Singapore will contribute to the fight against the global drug problem through policy discourse and sharing of scientific expertise, she said at the event, held from March 14 to 22.

“Addressing the world drug problem is a shared responsibility, which the international community must work together to tackle,” said Mrs Teo, who added that Singapore remains convinced that harm prevention is key to an effective drug control strategy.

“Effective prevention strategies help to stop drug abuse and its harms from becoming entrenched in our communities, which will otherwise overwhelm enforcement and rehabilitation resources,” she said.

Singapore was elected as a member of the CND for a four-year term from 2024 to 2027, having been an observer since 1997.

As the UN’s drug policymaking body, the CND meets annually to discuss the world’s drug problem, develop strategies on international drug control, and recommend measures for governments to address the problem.

Officials from the Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs ministries, and from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Health Sciences Authority attended the event.

More young abusers

In Singapore, CNB released figures in February which showed that more than half of new drug abusers arrested in 2023 were below the age of 30. The youngest abusers were only 14 years old.

Methamphetamine, heroin and cannabis were the three most commonly abused drugs, with 94 per cent of drug abusers arrested abusing at least one of these drugs.

Meanwhile, figures released by the Singapore Prison Service showed that the number of inmates in Singapore’s drug rehabilitation centres (DRCs) is at its highest level since 2008. There were 3,981 DRC inmates as of 2023.