Drug situation 'well under control'

"We have successfully contained the drug problem through strict anti-drug legislation and effective enforcement against drug abuse," he said on Wednesday in his address to the 20th special session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

"The police and drug enforcement agencies are making fewer arrests... The drug situation in Singapore is very much under control."

There were fewer new addicts arrested last year, 1130 compared to 1420 in 1996, according to a text of his speech released in Singapore.

This represented a 20 per cent drop.

Fewer relapses are being reported, dropping from 81 per cent in 1994 to 66 per cent last year.

In 1997, 4750 individuals were arrested for drug offences, compared to 6160 in 1994.

But since the drug control situation continues to change, he added that "there will always be new challenges to this problem, be it in the changing patterns of manufacture, trafficking or abuse of drugs.

"Individual governments must stay the course if international action is to achieve positive and lasting results."

He said that the United Nations and its agencies have a pivotal role in global efforts to combat the drug problem.

"The international treaty system and the international standards and norms, embodied in resolutions of the General Assembly and the work of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, provide an irreplaceable foundation and point of reference in the efforts to overcome the world drug problem," he said.

However, Mr Wong said that eradicating the supply of drugs is not enough to tackle the world drug problem, because the demand for drugs must also be reduced.

"This can only be done through the implementation of measures which emphasise deterrence and rehabilitation and through preventive education programmes," he said.

Published in the Straits Times. June 12, 1998