Paved with good intentions is the road to the gallows

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Alcohol, like tobacco, can lead to heavy addiction and serious health consequences. We all know that. But consumption of neither would send anyone to the gallows, nor would it subject them to forms of torture and other inhumane and degrading treatments, such as caning.

Every year, hundreds or thousands of people who have been convicted of drug offences are caned in prison. Many others are executed. In 2019, for example, the death penalty was imposed on 13 people in Singapore, all for drug trafficking. One was found with as little as 16 grams of drugs.