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SINGAPORE \u2013 Despite criticism against Singapore and international tolerance in attitudes towards drug abuse, the Republic will continue to take a very tough line in its war against drug abuse.<\/p>\n
Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said this on March 12 at the Community Resilience Against Drug Abuse Roundtable 2026 held at Furama RiverFront hotel.<\/p>\n
Citing the World Drug Report 2025,<\/span><\/a> Mr Shanmugam, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security, said 292 million people worldwide used drugs in 2022. This figure jumped to about 316 million in 2023. <\/p>\n He said that while many countries had either given up on the fight against drugs or were planning to legalise drugs, Singapore had done the opposite by continuing to be tough on drugs. <\/p>\n And the young here support this, he said.<\/p>\n In his speech, Mr Shanmugam referred to the 2025 National Drug Perception Survey, which showed that nearly 93 per cent of youth respondents and more than 96 per cent of adult respondents said Singapore should continue to maintain its tough laws to keep drugs out of the country.<\/p>\n Also, support among youth respondents had increased since the last survey in 2023. More than 87 per cent of youth respondents said in 2025 that they see the harms and consequences of drug abuse, compared with about 83 per cent in 2023. <\/p>\n For adult respondents, the 2025 figure was about 90 per cent.<\/p>\n Added Mr Shanmugam: \u201cThe survey data is extremely heartening. It shows that when the Government takes the leadership, has clear policy, it articulates it, has community support… Effective public education can bring across to our people the harms of drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd people then are prepared to support our tough policy.\u201d<\/p>\n Singapore\u2019s stringent policy means upholding the death penalty for capital offences such as trafficking large amounts of drugs.<\/p>\n The minister mentioned Australian lawyer Lex Lasry, who had tried to represent a drug trafficker in Singapore but was unable to.<\/p>\n Mr Lasry had written in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2024 that the death penalty did not have a deterrent effect in Singapore\u2019s context.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mr Shanmugam disagreed, saying there was clear evidence that the death penalty is effective here.<\/p>\n He said a study conducted in 2024 in the region found that more than 84 per cent of respondents believed the death penalty deterred people from trafficking substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore. <\/p>\n The study also showed that more than 82 per cent of respondents believed the death penalty was more effective than life imprisonment in discouraging people from trafficking drugs.<\/p>\n The authorities also conducted a public perception survey in 2025 on attitudes towards the death penalty.\u00a0<\/p>\n