Addicts blow $35m on drugs a year

The estimate is a conservative one and the amount could exceed well over $100 million, depending on the number of drug abusers who evade arrest and the percentage of hardcore heroin addicts among the 4717 abusers nabbed last year.

According to the Central Narcotics Bureau, a new drug abuser would spend about $7500 annually on narcotics, while a hardcore heroin addict would spend about $37,000 -- more than what most Singaporeans earn in a year.

By comparison, over in Malaysia, addicts spend M$1.25 billion (S$500 million -- exchange rate in October) a year on dangerous drugs, said a news report last October.

For addicts here, most of the money initially comes from salary, savings and loans from relatives and friends. But when these sources run out, many turn to crime.

One CNB survey, which studied addicts arrested between 1991 and 1996, showed that more than half of them had criminal records.

Many turned to stealing, including shoplifting, as a quick source of cash. Others start working as runners and pushers for the same drug syndicates which supplied their drug fixes.

According to the bureau, a "mild" addict takes between one and two straws of heroin daily. Those in the moderate group need five "hits" while heavy abusers could use 10 or more straws a day.

Each straw of heroin, which weighs 0.2 g, about the same weight as a pinch of salt, costs about $10 on the streets.

With tighter enforcement, supplies of heroin here have dwindled, resulting in even lower levels of purity.

From 7 per cent two years ago, heroin now only makes up about 3 per cent of the amount sold per straw, said the CNB. The rest is a mixture of fine white powders, which could include glucose, flour and talcum powder.

The latest bureau reports show that the number of drug addicts here is on the decline.

Last year, 4717 were caught, down from the 5744 nabbed the year before.

CNB attributed the drop to its tough enforcement action and, in particular, to the clampdown on Ecstasy abuse.

A breakdown of addicts arrested by race shows that the largest drop was in the number of Chinese addicts caught.

In 1997, 1683 were nabbed, down from 2334 in 1996.

CNB attributed this to the falling number of Ecstasy addicts. Chinese are the main users of this banned nightclub drug, which first surfaced in Singapore in 1995 and reach its peak a year later.

CNB director Sim Poh Heng said he was pleased with the drop in Ecstasy abuse. "We believe the problem has been contained and the situation is under control."

The number of Malay and Indian addicts has also dipped. For Malays, arrest figures fell about 10 percentage points from 2522 in 1996 to 2259. But the community is still over-represented and its addicts still number the highest among all racial groups here.

Malays formed about half the number of addicts in Drug Rehabilitation Centres. Last year, 1,806 Malays were admitted there -- almost double the 906 Chinese sent there.

The number of Indian addicts too fell, from 816 to 696.

Published in the Straits Times. February 1, 1998