Singapore’s government “defends” the constitutionality of the main law for drug offences, according to Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam on Tuesday ( Apr 8 ).
Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim ( PAP-Chua Chu Kang ), a member of Parliament, emailed him about plans to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act presumptions.
According to Mr. Shanmugam, who made the ministerial speech, the assumptions date back to the 1973 Act’s legislation and have been debatted in parliament.  ,
Members of Parliament most recently discussed the subject during the second reading of the 2023 Misuse of Drugs ( Amendment ) Bill, which was unanimously passed, according to Mr. Shanmugam.
” The laws, as it stands, is based on existing plan,” the statement reads. And there is no reason for the government to change anything in relation to those suppositions, he continued.
These presumptions are, among others, those relating to possession of controlled drugs, understanding of the drug’s character, and the belief that ownership was for smuggling.
CASE AFTER THE Judges
Mr. Shanmugam noted that a case is currently pending before the judges, contesting the use of medication Act presumptions. The case in question was no named by him.
A moment before his scheduled murder on February 20 was safely carried out, Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, a medicine courier on death row.
He was found guilty on May 2, 2017, on a single command of importing 51.84 grams of diamorphine into Singapore, and he was sentenced to the death penalty.  ,
He requested permission to file a post-appeal software with the Court of Appeal.
Pannir, who had filed the application on behalf of himself, had filed the lawsuit on three premises, including a constitutional violation of the Misuse of Drugs Act assumptions.
On the basis of these facts, the Appellate Division Judge Woo Bih Li, who heard the app, determined that Pannir’s program had a “reasonable chance of success.”  ,
NECESSARY TO ATTEND DRUG TRAFFICKING
According to Mr. Shanmugam, the Act addresses the “practical challenges” of proving certain details that are “often entirely within the accused person’s knowledge” or that the prosecution would not be able to get immediate evidence of.
The trial will be able to demonstrate, for example, that the drugs were in the accused child’s possession in such circumstances. The accused could easily make up the claim that he did not know the medications were there, according to Mr. Shanmugam, and avoid being found guilty.
The trial might not be able to disprove this assertion or provide the information required to establish that the accused knew they were drug users.  ,
According to Mr. Shanmugam,” the assumptions cope with the accused’s knowledge of the nature of the medicines.”
The onus is on the accused to show that he did not know that what was discovered in his possession was medicines under the MDA ( Misuse of Drugs Act ). And most of the time, these statistics are within his own control.
Before the notion of the accused’s information can be based on their knowledge, Mr. Shanmugam said, the trial had first “prove beyond acceptable question” that the medicines were in their possession.
He continued,” The prosecution must also demonstrate beyond a reasonable question all other aspects of the offence.”
Mr. Shanmugam cited a few cases from his previous 2017 speech in parliament that dealt with the “evidential problems” in drug cases and the “necessity” of the legitimate assumptions.
A person was detained at Woodlands Checkpoint in one situation while taking 145g of diamorphine. He reportedly traveled to Kuala Lumpur looking for work and was introduced to a man by the name of” Uncle.”
The person taped 10 bits of ingredients to his body after he gave him them. He claimed that the person showed him three fingers in comment when he inquired about what they were for and that he accepted it. When he arrived in Singapore, he was therefore unaware of the items.  ,
How can the trial refute this? According to Mr. Shanmugam, the reality can only be in the person’s thoughts when he made his remarks before.
” Our first prime minister, who was an attorney, knew the nature of the issues, and we reversed the burden of proof,” he said.
According to Mr. Shanmugam, Singapore has one of the lowest levels of substance abuse in the world, compared to many other nations, where “huge difficulties” have been encountered.
” This is in spite of the worsening international medication situation, and our place at the threshold of the Golden Triangle, one of the world’s leading regions for the production of illicit pharmaceuticals,” he continued.
” The suppositions have been a crucial component of the legal framework that enables us to deal with the drug problem efficiently.”
” I may say that the government will support the validity of the presumptions,” Mr. Shanmugam continued. We should be cautious when discussing any obstacle in particular. That is up to the courts to decide.