SINGAPORE – To encourage drug abusers to kick their addiction, all first-time abusers who surrender to the authorities from May 16 will not be sent to a drug rehabilitation centre.
Instead, they will be placed on drug supervision in the community with compulsory case management.
Second Minister for Home Affairs Edwin Tong announced this on May 15 at the Drug Victims Remembrance Day Observance Ceremony at Suntec City.
The conditions of the current surrender regime will continue to apply, he said.
These include the abuser not having surrendered himself more than twice, and not being wanted by the authorities or under investigation.
According to the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), around 30 first-time drug abusers surrendered themselves from 2020 to March 2026.
Mr Tong, who is also Law Minister, said: “Drug abusers who want to wean off their drug addiction and live a drug-free life will be supported with regular counselling sessions in the community, which will involve psychology-based methods such as goal-setting and family engagement, accompanied by regular hair or urine testing by the CNB.”
He added that the number of young abusers has increased, with over half of the new abusers arrested below 30 years old in the last three years.
In 2024, the youngest arrested was 13.
Mr Tong said cannabis remains a concern in Singapore, with seven in 10 cannabis abusers arrested in 2025 being new abusers.
Of these, 63 per cent were below 30 years old.
“This is a generation of young people who are being told, online and through popular culture, that cannabis is harmless, that it is a lifestyle choice, that it is no big deal. These are all outright lies,” he said.
“And then there is the most tragic statistic of them all – 68 drug-related deaths in Singapore in 2025. This is a 15 per cent increase from the 59 deaths in 2024.”
These were cases where drugs were detected in the person during postmortem analysis, he said, adding that about 30 per cent of these deaths across 2024 and 2025 involved Singaporean abusers who had remained undetected for drug abuse.
He cited two cases, including one where a 30-year-old Singaporean man suddenly became agitated on his way home after a night of drinking with his friend. He suffered a seizure and died in hospital.