'STATUS DRUGS' NEW ENEMY NO 1

The Number Of Synthetic Drug Abusers Held In May Was Double That Of Heroin
Abusers; Change A Worldwide Trend

A NEW Public Enemy No. 1 has emerged in the drug war in Singapore.

Synthetic drugs, with such exotic names as Pink Lady, Kit Kat and Shabu,
have taken the top spot from heroin, the long-time menace.

The change mirrors a worldwide trend that anti-drug officials plan to
counter by, among other things, establishing a drug prevention centre.

It will have interactive programmes to educate people on the dangers, said a
spokesman for the National Council Against Drug Abuse, declining to go into
details.

The trend towards synthetic drugs began early this year and in May, the
number of synthetic drug abusers arrested was almost double that of heroin
abusers, said a spokesman for the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) yesterday.

She declined to give the numbers.

The new trend is a marked change over last year when heroin abusers topped
the list of those arrested.

Figures for the entire year show they formed two-thirds of the total
arrested.

Those nabbed for synthetic drugs such as ketamine, Ecstasy and Ice made up
almost 30 per cent.

The rest were caught for taking cannabis.

The rise in synthetic drugs can be traced to several major factors.

One is the status-defining nature of the drugs.

Heroin is seen as an 'old man's drug', not one the night-clubbing young want
to be associated with.

Also, most synthetic drugs come in easy-to-swallow pill form.

They are more easily manufactured too, concocted in mobile laboratories that
move between borders to elude detection.

On the other hand, heroin is derived from opium and its production has
shrunk, especially in the notorious Golden Triangle area bordering Myanmar,
Laos and Thailand.

The United Nations' latest 2003 Global Illicit Drug Trends Report says
production there has dropped 40 per cent.

To stop the young thinking that Ice and Ecstasy are hip and harmless, these
drugs are being given the spotlight in this year's anti-drug campaign.

Between 1998 and 2001, heroin was the focus in the media advertisements put
out by the National Council Against Drug Abuse.

'These designer drugs are particularly sinister to the impressionable young,
who may take too lightly the fact that they are dangerous, even fatal,' said
its chairman Lim Hock San.

As it enters a new battle in its campaign against drugs, the success against
heroin has been chronicled in a new book launched last month.

Creating A White Area goes as far back as the early 1970s when Singapore had
many drug-infested 'black areas'.

The book gave a brief mention of the new drug prevention centre, saying it
will be set up in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the
Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association.

The spokesman for the National Council Against Drug Abuse said it will be
modelled along a concept similar to the Singapore Science Centre in Jurong.

A learning journey showing the history of Singapore's war against drugs will
also be included in the plans.

But the spokesman declined to say when it will be ready.

In the meantime, CNB director Eric Tan is confident of winning the new
battle.

'Singapore has done well in containing the scourge of heroin abuse... The
new threat will be met with the same sustained enforcement action.'