I'm not sure it makes sense to treat Western standards as a single system.

There's considerable variety in Westerners' beliefs.

Your personal standards and everyone elses in the western world make up the totality of Western standards. So you would go with your local version which are Western standards because you are western.

the woman was trafficking. It's not only for personal consumption but for others too. If a trafficker sold heroin to your child, would you be as lenient about it?

Well, did the woman sell heroin to children?

Yes because I wouldn't blame her for my childs addiction. Arresting her means your child gets it from another source potential more dangerous. You need to treat the addiction not kill the messenger.

My child is probably more like her than I would want to believe. Both struggling mentally and needing help. Killing her means I'm okay with killing my own child because they shared with a friend.

> My child is probably more like her than I would want to believe. Both struggling mentally and needing help

fascinating take here. granted a very empathic one, but also extremely naive

Following up on my other comment to say I appreciate how personal this topic is to you, and I mean no disrespect.

That said I don't think moving 30 grams of Heroin is 'just sharing'. In Singapore, this kind of crime is the absolute worst of the worst, similar to and in some cases punished worse than murder.

Just important to think of how relatively serious these crimes are in other places. It's not like the US or Europe.

I don't think you're making much of a point besides that there are other crimes you should consider separately from this example. I was pretty clear that I am ok with the example this post is about. The law in Singapore that illegal import of Heroin (any amount) is punishable by death. As far as I know there are no huge movements happening to repeal Singapore's drug laws by their citizens.

> Judging life by western standards seems like a sensible thing to do if you come from the west.

Only if you have no awareness of your own surroundings and upbringing. Those of us with the opportunity to widen our worldview understand that applying one country's value system to another is comparing apples to oranges. The hubris in thinking that your country/culture's values apply to another population across the world is maddening and a big contributor to the anti-West sentiment around the world.