More drug abusers under 20 years old nabbed in 2024; youngest was 13, meth most commonly abused: CNB

SINGAPORE – There were 126 new drug abusers under the age of 20 arrested in 2024, 30 per cent more than the

97 nabbed in 2023

.

A total of 156 people under 20 were arrested in 2024.

The youngest was 13.

With the global drug situation worsening, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said society as a whole must educate Singapore’s young people about the dangers that drugs pose.

CNB released its annual statistics report on Feb 12 and it showed that the total number of drug abusers arrested in 2024 was 3,119, down 0.1 per cent from the 3,122 nabbed in 2023.

New abusers totalled 966 in 2024, more than the 952 arrested in 2023. The number of repeat offenders arrested dropped to 2,153 in 2024, from 2,170 in 2023. 

One worrying statistic was the number of young people below 20 years old getting arrested for abusing drugs.

The other troubling statistic was that new abusers below the age of 30 made up more than half of all new cases for the second year in a row.

CNB arrested 507 new abusers aged below 30 in 2024, making up 52 per cent of all new abusers arrested. That number stood at 488, or 51 per cent, in 2023.

CNB’s acting director Leon Chan said this is a worrying trend and it suggests a persistence in youth drug abuse. 

He said the 13-year-old who was arrested was far younger than the average onset age of drug abuse, which was 16, according to the 2022 Health and Lifestyle survey conducted by the Institute of Mental Health.

CNB told The Straits Times that this was not the youngest drug abuser to have been arrested over the past decade. The youngest to have been arrested in that period was 11.

In 2023, CNB reported that five 14-year-olds were the youngest in that year to be arrested for the offence.

Methamphetamine, or Ice, remained the drug of choice in 2024 for those below 20 years old. Some 89 per cent, or 139 individuals, were arrested for taking the drug.

On Feb 8, 2024,

three teenage girls were arrested for abusing methamphetamine

. Two were 13 and the other was 14.

Mr Chan said more than half of new cannabis abusers arrested were below 30, which suggested a growing permissiveness among young people towards the drug.

The number of people arrested for cannabis abuse in 2024 stood at 199, down from 276 in 2023.

CNB said methamphetamine, heroin and cannabis were the most commonly abused drugs in Singapore in 2024.

In 2024, CNB dismantled 25 drug syndicates, leading to drug seizures with a street value of more than $13 million. The syndicates included those operating on messaging platform Telegram and those operating in other countries.

The agency had seized drugs worth some $15.37 million in 2023, and $16.66 million in 2022.

Impact on families

Mr Chan said the harmful effects of drugs are far-reaching, and besides the drug abusers, those around them often also suffer.

He said: “Beyond the damage done to a drug abuser’s health and well-being, the families and loved ones of drug abusers are often the ones suffering silently and invisibly as they shoulder the emotional, financial and sometimes even physical fallout of their loved one’s drug addiction.”

He added that innocent people could also suffer from the fallout of an individual’s drug addiction, echoing

Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam’s ministerial statement

delivered in a May 2024 Parliament sitting.

Mr Shanmugam had then cited the case of

two-year-old Umaisyah,

who was brutally assaulted to death by her father in 2014. He was a methamphetamine abuser and had taken the drug on the morning of her death.

Umaisyah’s father was sentenced to 21½ years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane for culpable homicide, while her mother was sentenced to 14 years’ jail for ill-treating her children and perverting the course of justice.

In 2019, Singapore changed its policy towards drug abusers. Now, those who abuse drugs without committing other offences are sent for treatment and do not get a criminal record.

But while Singapore tries to help abusers, it takes a tough stance against drug traffickers, said Mr Shanmugam.

He added that the death penalty is an effective deterrent in the war against drugs.

A 2023 survey

commissioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs found that 68.7 per cent out of 2,000 participants strongly agreed or agreed with the use of the mandatory death penalty for significant drug trafficking offences. In the same survey, 87.9 per cent of respondents agreed that the death penalty was an effective deterrent against serious crimes, including drug trafficking. 

Official figures released by the Singapore Prison Service on Feb 11 showed that the

two-year recidivism rate

for inmates at drug rehabilitation centres (DRCs) is at its highest level since 2015.

As at Dec 31, 2024, there were 4,349 such inmates, comprising those at the two DRCs at Changi Prison Complex’s B5 institution and Selarang Park Complex, and female DRC inmates at Institution A4. There were 3,981 DRC inmates in these facilities in 2023.

Correction note: This story has been edited for clarity.