In a recent operation, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) arrested three girls suspected of drug abuse.
CNB revealed that the three students, one 14 years old and the other two 13 years old, confessed to occasionally engaging in drug abuse as a group.
ICE ABUSE
On 6 February 2024, CNB officers arrested a 14-year-old girl at her residence, where a search revealed a stained packet believed to contain drugs.
“Preliminary investigations found that the 14-year-old had started abusing ‘Ice’ when she was 13 and on the last occasion she abused ‘Ice’, which was about a week before her arrest, she was abusing ‘Ice’ at home with two other female friends’, CNB said in its press release.
Subsequently, CNB officers proceeded to arrest the two 13-year-old girls, unveiling a pattern of drug abuse within their social circle. Preliminary findings suggested that the 13-year-olds, on multiple occasions, indulged in ‘Ice’ abuse at the 14-year-old’s residence.
“One of the 13-year-old had decided to participate in abusing ‘Ice’ out of curiosity when she saw the other two girls doing so”, CNB added.
CNB further said that, “These preliminary findings further echo the findings of IMH’s 2022 Health and Lifestyle Survey, which found that residences one’s own home or a friend’s home were the most commonly cited locations for drug consumption and that ‘curiosity’ was one of the more often cited reasons for drug abuse”.
The arrest sheds light on a concerning trend highlighted in the Institute of Mental Health’s (IMH) 2022 Health and Lifestyle Survey, revealing that drug abuse often initiates at a young age. This finding specifically reveals that the average age at which individuals start abusing drugs is 15.9 years, and a notable 41.8% of drug users initiated drug abuse before reaching the age of 18.
“This case is a reminder that the fight against drugs is not one that CNB can win by itself, that parents, family members, schools, all have a part to play in this fight. It is important that parents initiate conversations with their children about the harms of drugs so as to build up their resilience against drugs. Parents will have to sustain the conversation by constantly reminding their children not to be tempted or pressured by their peers into taking drugs as drug abuse can and will have devastating consequences”.
– Assistant Commissioner Sng Chern Hong, Deputy Director CNB (Policy & Administration)
Investigations into the three girls’ drug abuse activities are still ongoing.
Top image via CNB
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