SINGAPORE TOUGHENS DRUG PENALTIES

SINGAPORE (Associated Press): Drug traffickers and hardcore addicts will
face harsher punishment in Singapore, where authorities said Wednesday they
are determined to press on with their ``zero tolerance'' policy on drug
abuse.

Though the government believes in rehabilitation for drug offenders ``who
are genuine in their desire to turn over a new leaf,'' the minister of
state for law and home affairs said addicts who continually relapse will
face long prison terms.

New laws will soon make repeat offenders face mandatory terms of seven to
13 years in prison plus caning, Ho Peng Kee said.

More than half of the some 3,000 addicts admitted for treatment last year
had been there at least three times before.

"Longterm imprisonment will deter addicts from persisting in their
addiction and also take them out of circulation for long periods so that
they will not contaminate the innocent or commit crimes to feed their
addiction," Ho said in a speech.

Referring to the country's ``zero tolerance'' policy, Ho said users of the
designer drug Ecstasy also can expect time behind bars _ 12 to 18 months
for a first offense.

``The perception that Ecstasy is a harmless and nonaddictive drug is a
dangerous fallacy which must be dispelled,'' he said.

Singapore has a mandatory death sentence for any adult found guilty of
trafficking in more than a halfounce of heroin, an ounce of morphine or
about a pound of marijuana.

More than 150 people have been hanged for trafficking since 1975, when the
mandatory death penalty was imposed.

A New Zealand man was sentenced Wednesday to one year in jail and three
strokes of the cane on charges of overstaying his visa and using drugs.

David William Peden, 31, had tested positive for morphine after being
caught in a police raid last month.

New Zealand expressed disappointment at the caning scheduled for Thursday
but said it does not interfere in the judicial process of other countries.

Caning is done with a 4foot bamboo rod.

The punishment drew international attention to Singapore in 1994 when
American teen Michael Fay received four lashes and a jail term for
spraypainting cars and other acts of vandalism.

He was originally sentenced to six strokes, but that was reduced to four
after President Clinton criticized the punishment as extreme.