Misuse of Drugs Act

(CHAPTER 185)

(Original Enactment: Act 5 of 1973)

REVISED EDITION 2008

(31st March 2008)

An Act for the control of dangerous or otherwise harmful drugs and substances and for purposes connected therewith.

[7th July 1973]

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Interpretation

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“approved institution” means any institution or place declared by the Minister to be an approved institution under section 35;

“article liable to seizure” means any money, thing, controlled equipment or controlled material by means of or in respect of which an offence under this Act has been committed or which contains evidence of an offence under this Act;

“cannabis” means any part of a plant of the genus Cannabis, or any part of such plant, by whatever name it is called;

“cannabis mixture” means any mixture of vegetable matter containing tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinol in any quantity;

“cannabis resin” means any substance containing resinous material and in which is found tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinol in any quantity;

“Class A drug”, “Class B drug” and “Class C drug” mean any of the substances and products for the time being specified in Parts I, II and III of the First Schedule, respectively;

“committee of inquiry” means a committee of inquiry convened under section 41;

“controlled drug” means any substance or product which is for the time being specified in Part I, II or III of the First Schedule or anything that contains any such substance or product;

“controlled equipment, controlled material or controlled substance” means any equipment, material or substance, respectively, specified in the Third Schedule;

“corresponding law” means a law stated in a certificate purporting to be issued by or on behalf of the government of a country outside Singapore to be a law providing for the control and regulation in that country of —

(a)	the production, supply, use, export and import of drugs and other substances in accordance with the provisions of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs signed at New York on 30th March 1961; or
(b)	the production, supply, use, export and import of dangerous or otherwise harmful drugs in pursuance of any treaty, convention or other agreement or arrangement to which the government of that country and the Government of Singapore are for the time being parties;

“Director” means the Director of the Central Narcotics Bureau appointed under section 3(1);

“Director of Prisons” means the Director of Prisons appointed under section 20 of the Prisons Act (Cap. 247);

“drug addict” means a person who, through the use of any controlled drug, has developed —

(a)	a desire or need to continue to take that controlled drug; or
(b)	a psychological or physical dependence upon the effect of that controlled drug;

“Health Sciences Authority” means the Health Sciences Authority established under the Health Sciences Authority Act (Cap. 122C);

“immigration officer” has the same meaning as in the Immigration Act (Cap. 133);

“inmate” means a person who is detained in an approved institution;

“manufacture”, in relation to —

(a)	a controlled drug, includes any process of producing the drug and the refining or transformation of one drug into another; or
(b)	a controlled substance, includes any process of producing the substance and the refining or transformation of one substance into another;

“officer of customs” has the same meaning as in the Customs Act (Cap. 70);

“officer of the Bureau” means the Director or any person appointed under section 3 as a Deputy Director, an Assistant Director or an officer of the Central Narcotics Bureau;

“opium” means any substance containing in any quantity morphine and one or more of the following, namely, codeine, narcotine, papaverine and thebaine but does not include poppy-straw which is not mixed in any such substance;

“permanent resident of Singapore” includes the holder of a Singapore blue identity card and a person who holds an entry permit or a re-entry permit issued by the Controller of Immigration;

“police officer” has the same meaning as in the Police Force Act (Cap. 235);

“prison officer” has the same meaning as in the Prisons Act (Cap. 247);

“regulations” means any regulations made under this Act;

“Review Committee”, in relation to an approved institution, means the Review Committee appointed for the institution under section 37;

“senior officer of customs” has the same meaning as in the Customs Act;

“special police officer” means a member of the Special Constabulary constituted under Part VIII of the Police Force Act;

“specified drug”, except for the purposes of the Second Schedule, means a drug specified in the Fourth Schedule;

“traffic” means —

(a)	to sell, give, administer, transport, send, deliver or distribute; or
(b)	to offer to do anything mentioned in paragraph (a),

otherwise than under the authority of this Act, and “trafficking” has a corresponding meaning;

“Vigilante Corps” means the Vigilante Corps constituted under the Vigilante Corps Act (Cap. 343).

[49/75; 12/77; 40/93; 20/98; 8/2000; 4/2001; 2/2006]

Appointment of Director and other officers of Central Narcotics Bureau

3.—(1) The Minister may appoint a Director of the Central Narcotics Bureau and such numbers of Deputy Directors, Assistant Directors and other officers as the Minister may think fit.

[2/2006]

(2) All officers of the Bureau appointed by the Minister before 12th December 1975 shall be deemed to have been appointed under subsection (1).

[49/75]

(3) The powers and functions conferred upon the Director under this Act, and the duties required to be discharged by him may, subject to such limitations as the Director may impose, be exercised and discharged by any Deputy Director or Assistant Director of the Central Narcotics Bureau duly authorised by the Director to act on his behalf.

[20/98; 2/2006]

Advisory committees

4.—(1) For the purpose of assisting in the administration of this Act, the Minister may from time to time appoint such advisory committees as he thinks fit.

[12/77]

(2) Every such committee shall have such functions as the Minister may from time to time determine.

[12/77]

(3) Subject to the regulations, every such committee may regulate its own procedure.

[12/77]

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