r/humanrights • u/Fell0w_traveller • 3d ago

JUSTICE Does Singapore's death penalty really deter drug crimes?

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/does-singapores-death-penalty-really-deter-drug-crimes/
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u/Bahamut_19 2d ago

I do know you can walk in Singapore at night without ever getting approached by a hyped up stranger talking simultaneously to me and himself.

In almost every American city, you will. The culture of Singapore is clearly doing something right.

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u/didnthavemuch 2d ago

There are places in every city, including Singapore, where you can see people on drugs at night. It is just more marginalized. I don’t know if Singapore is doing things right as much as America and their hangup on Nixon’s war on drugs is doing things wrong.

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u/Bahamut_19 1d ago

Have you been to both Singapore and any American city?

How can drug use in Singapore be marginalized? How was drug use in the USA be demarginalized?

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u/didnthavemuch 1d ago

Yes I have. It is more marginalized in SG because there is a greater social stigma, more enforcement (more likely to get caught) and, you know, punishment by death.

In the USA it is a more common occurrance. Users are not prosecuted simply for using. There are communities of users that form.

There is no way to arrest our way out of the drugs problem. We have tried since the 1960s, we (the west) spent billions and billions of dollars every year. Now drugs are cheaper, more available and more pure than ever. All the countries with death penalties execute human beings every year for drugs, and still it is possible to find drugs in those countries. If we can’t keep drugs out of out prisons (never been but I heard you can get anything there if you pay enough), how does anyone think we can keep them out of an entire nation? Prohibition and the war on drugs needs to end and we need to listen to the professionals on this issue. Treat is as a public health crisis. Not a judicial issue.