{"id":52831,"date":"2020-12-06T06:54:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T22:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=169390"},"modified":"2020-12-06T06:54:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T22:54:19","slug":"keeping-ahead-in-detecting-new-generation-of-drugs-in-singapore-with-names-like-spice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2020\/12\/06\/keeping-ahead-in-detecting-new-generation-of-drugs-in-singapore-with-names-like-spice\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping ahead in detecting new generation of drugs in Singapore with names like Spice"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

ST gets an inside look at where it happens \u2013 at the Health Sciences Authority\u2019s Illicit Drugs Laboratory. SINGAPORE \u2013 The names are often innocuous, like Mushroom, Pink or Spice, but the purpose is deadly.
\nNew psychoactive substances, or NPS, are sometimes also disguised as anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax and diazepam.
\nThis new generation of drugs are among some of the most common ones found in raids islandwide.
\nHowever, they are difficult to identify as syndicates constantly tweak their chemical structures to avoid detection by the authorities.
\nCompared to known drugs, which can be identified in three to four days, it typically takes at least two weeks to do the same for NPS.
\nIn Singapore, the team of experts who analyse these drugs work in the Health Sciences Authority\u2019s (HSA) Illicit Drugs Laboratory.
\nThe Straits Times visited the laboratory in Outram recently for an inside look at where the new substances and other traditional drugs such as heroin, cannabis and Ecstasy are analysed to help the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and other authorities in legal proceedings.
\n\u201cThe NPS market is highly dynamic with new NPS appearing as fast as those that have disappeared from the market,\u201d said the laboratory\u2019s senior forensic scientist Ong Mei Ching.
\nShe added: \u201cThe numbers and types of NPS are constantly evolving across the globe and in Singapore. The analytical method used would hence need to be constantly reviewed and enhanced in order to keep up with the evolving trend, which is indeed challenging.\u201d
\nThe laboratory also provides the CNB with reports on the new drugs so legislative measures can keep pace with the NPS market.
\n\u201cThis has contributed to timely control of new NPS encountered in Singapore, and greatly reduced the opportunistic window that drug traffickers can use to trade the new drugs,\u201d said Dr Ong.
\nAs at Sept 4, under the Misuse of Drugs Act, there are 12 generic groups and 67 individually named NPS drugs listed as Class A controlled drugs. It is an offence to traffic, manufacture, import, export, possess or consume such drugs.
\nThe drugs defined in the generic classes have the same core chemical structure. This grouping allows for a range of drugs with substitutions to their chemical structure to be controlled.
\nThose found guilty of possessing or consuming NPS face up to 10 years\u2019 jail, a fine of $20,000, or both. Those convicted of trafficking, manufacturing, importing or exporting NPS face a minimum of five years\u2019 imprisonment and five strokes of the cane.
\nWhile the toxicities and pharmacological effects of NPS are not fully known, they have psychoactive effects which are meant to mimic that of traditional drugs.
\nSince their chemical structures are constantly modified, abusers often do not know what they are consuming. There have been four NPS-related deaths since 2016.
\nThere is currently no evidence that these drugs are produced locally. However, they are the second-most abused among new offenders in Singapore, and the third-most overall, with 414 or 11.7 per cent of total drug abusers arrested for taking NPS last year.
\nThe NPS first emerged in Europe in 2004 and spread rapidly around the world. From 126 variants of NPS detected globally in 2009, the figure spiked to 892 last year.
\nThe World Drug Report 2020 noted that most of the synthetic NPS identified globally in the last decade are stimulants, followed by synthetic cannabinoids and hallucinogens.
\nIn order to deal with the rising threat of NPS, it was announced during the debate on the Ministry Home Affairs\u2019 budget in March that Singapore would review its laws.
\nThe ministry has been proactively listing NPS since 2010.
\nThe CNB and HSA told ST last month that they handle the NPS threat by strengthening legislation, enhancing detection and enforcement, and renewing efforts to educate young people about the harms of drugs and NPS.
\nFor example, the CNB regularly lists NPS that have emerged in the global market that have no legal uses, and a significant proportion of the NPS reported overseas are already currently controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
\nFor the scientists in the illicit drugs laboratory, keeping ahead of the drug trends remains crucial to helping the authorities have a better understanding of the NPS threat in Singapore.
\n\u201cThe advent of NPS since a decade ago has brought about a paradigm shift in drug identification for forensic laboratories,\u201d said Dr Ong.
\nGas chromatography mass spectrometry, a method of chemical analysis to identify traditional drugs, may be insufficient to tackle NPS, she added.
\n\u201cIn order to cope with these challenges, we must be agile and adaptable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ST gets an inside look at where it happens \u2013 at the Health Sciences Authority\u2019s Illicit Drugs Laboratory. SINGAPORE \u2013 The names are often innocuous, like Mushroom, Pink or Spice, but the purpose is deadly.
\nNew psychoactive substances, or NPS, are some…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1607,288,194],"tags":[10548,3942,3556,2724,2127,1816,1859,10380],"class_list":["post-52831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-manufacturing","category-medicine","category-news-chinese-law","tag-cannabis","tag-europe","tag-export","tag-exports","tag-import","tag-prison","tag-singapore","tag-singapore-general-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52831"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52831"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52832,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52831\/revisions\/52832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}