Singapore to execute human by hanging for phone number linked to 1kg of cannabis

Re:Singapore to execute human by hanging for phone number li... by p-e-w on Saturday April 22, 2023 @01:31AM (#35663660)

> Drug abuse is much less of a problem in Singapore

Is it?

Is there any reliable data that demonstrates this?

By which I mean, data that isn't (directly or indirectly) controlled by the same government that wants to kill people for possessing drugs, and thus has a vested interest in justifying that policy.

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Re:Singapore to execute human by hanging for phone number li... by mardifoufs on Saturday April 22, 2023 @02:09AM (#35663854)

Wouldn't your last point be true for any government data, anywhere? That it would have a vested interest in justifying government policy?

I don't think there's generally any reason to doubt Singapore official data in general. Do you happen to know about any source on it being unreliable? Or even rumours that it is?

(FWIW, I totally agree thay killing citizens over weed is batshit insane, even if it was hypothetically proven to be very effective method to reduce drug usage/dealing)

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Re:Singapore to execute human by hanging for phone number li... by p-e-w on Saturday April 22, 2023 @03:02AM (#35664067)

Singapore is ranked 139th in the Press Freedom Index[1]. Until last year, it ranked behind Russia and Afghanistan. It's safe to say that publicly challenging Singapore's official figures, or trying to obtain data from alternative sources, would be very difficult, if not outright dangerous.

So this is not the same thing as questioning data from just anywhere else. Singapore's government transparency is abysmal by international standards, especially by the standards of developed countries.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index

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