Almost half of Singapore drug abusers now aged 40 and up

Narcotics bureau arrested 826 in oldest demographic, or 48% of total abusers.

Singapore's drug abusers appeared to be getting older in the first half of 2012, according to data from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), with heroin and methamphetamine continuing to be the poison of choice.

"The numbers of abusers arrested below 20 years of age declined 40.4% from 146 arrested in first half 2011 to 87 in the first half of 2012. However, the number of abusers aged 40 and above increased from 754 to 826. This age group remains the majority of abusers arrested, and comprised 48% of all abusers arrested in first half of 2012," CNB said.

"Compared to the first half of 2011, the total number of drug abusers arrested in the first half of  2012 dipped slightly by 2.5%, from 1,756 to 1,712. The number of new drug abusers arrested also saw a decrease of 9.4% to 537, where there were 56 fewer new drug abusers arrested in the first half of 2012," it added.

CNB said that heroin and methamphetamine continued to be the two most commonly abused drugs. 93% of the drug abusers arrested in the first half of 2012 were heroin or methamphetamine abusers. 

Meanwhile, the number of Chinese and Indian drug abusers arrested declined by 14.9% and 6.4% respectively
in the first half of 2012 compared to the same period last year. The number of Malay drug abusers
arrested increased by 6.8% from 839 to 896.  

CNB reported that it seized approximately S$9.3 million worth of drugs in the first half of 2012, which is about S$1.5 million more compared to the same period of 2011. Other than ‘Ecstasy,’ ketamine and  Nimetazepam, the other major drug types saw increased seizures. In particular, seizure of crystal methamphetamine, or ‘Ice’ increased from 4.0 kg to about 9.5kg.

Larger quantities of heroin, cannabis and methamphetamine were seized in the first half of 2012 as compared to the same period in 2011. The increases ranged from 13.3% to 465%.