$10M HALFWAY HOUSE FOR DRUG ADDICTS

The Facility For 250 Recovering Addicts Should Be Ready In 2003, An
Anti-Drug Seminar Retreat Was Told

RECOVERING drug addicts will have a purpose-built halfway house in Bedok in
three years, if the venture pans out.

The Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (Score) has
submitted a plan to build the $10-million project.

If the green light is given, Score hopes to complete it in 2003. It will be
able to take in up to 250 people.

Currently, most of the halfway houses are located in old buildings.

The plan for the new halfway house came up during the two-day Anti-Drug
Seminar Retreat 2000 which ended yesterday at the Costa Sands Resort in East
Coast Parkway.

At the meet, more than 100 participants attended talks and seminars.

Speaking to the media after the opening, the president of the Singapore
Anti-Narcotics Association (Sana), Dr Loo Choon Yang, gave an update on the
Pal scheme, started in November 1998.

Under the programme, Sana, with the help of the Ministry of Education, the
Prisons Department and the police, identifies "high-risk" youths who are
school dropouts.

It then sends volunteers to visit and establish contact with the youths.

By counselling the youths, many of whom come from broken and dysfunctional
families, Sana hopes to keep them away from drugs.

The scheme has attracted 385 volunteers.

But Dr Loo hopes that more grassroots and religious organisations will join
the war on drug abuse. He wants to double the number of volunteers.

So far, Sana has roped in volunteers from several groups, including the
Rotary Club of Singapore, the Chinese Development Assistance Council and the
Hong Kah-Sembawang Community Development Council.

Every year, about 1,200-1,400 young people drop out of school, said Dr Loo.

The existing pool of dropouts totals between 6,000 and 7,000.

Since the Pal scheme started, close to 500 youths aged between 10 and 16
years have been counselled.

This led to nearly eight in 10 returning to school or starting to work.

Mr Lim Hock San, chairman of the National Council Against Drug Abuse, said:
"The programme is part of our multi-pronged approach against drug abuse. The
idea is to make sure that we hit at every corner."

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, the chief guest at the opening ceremony
on Monday, said the number of drug abusers arrested fell from 6,100 in 1994
to 3,800 last year. But the war on drug abuse is far from over, he said.

"We cannot rest on our laurels. Drug abuse must not become a problem in our
schools.

"We should continue to explore ways to improve on existing strategies and
approaches to bring the 'Prevention is better than Cure' message to all the
students."