SINGAPORE: While Singapore’s drug situation remained under control in 2024, youth drug abuse continued to increase, according to statistics by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) on Wednesday (Feb 12).
In its annual statistics report, CNB acting director Leon Chan said the trends in youth drug abuse are “worrying”, particularly the “early onset of drug abuse”.
There was a 1 per cent increase in new drug abusers arrested, up from 952 in 2023 to 966 in 2024.
Of those newly arrested last year, about 52 per cent were below 30 years old, compared to 51 per cent in 2023. The number of new drug abusers arrested under the age of 20 increased by 30 per cent.
Sixty-one per cent of those arrested for cannabis were new abusers, with 57 per cent of them below the age of 30.
Out of the 720 new methamphetamine abusers arrested, 53 per cent were below 30 years old. The number of newly arrested abusers of this drug also increased from 63 per cent in 2023 to 75 per cent in 2024.
Mr Chan gave the example of a 13-year-old who was the youngest arrested for drug abuse in 2024, “far younger than the average onset age of drug abuse of 16 years old”, indicated in a 2022 survey conducted by the Institute of Mental Health.
With an increasing number of new abusers arrested for cannabis below 30 years old, Mr Chan noted that it suggests a “growing trend of permissiveness towards cannabis among our youths”.
