Children ignored as couple get high

Drugs brought them together and then tore their family apart.

When they met in 2001, he was an 18-year-old drug addict and pusher. She was his 16-year-old customer.

It was not love at first sight. Although he found her attractive, he was too much into drugs at the time.

As fate would have it, they bumped into each other four years later.

By then they had been in and out of jail - twice in her case.

By the following year, they were married. Two children, both girls, followed.

The couple, whom we shall call Jerry and Jane, kept clean until 2009, when they got hooked again.

And so began their downward spiral, ignoring their kids who were begging and crying for their parents who were only intent only on getting high.

Their wake-up call came in 2010 when they were caught for drug abuse and sent back to jail.

Jerry, who is now out, is waiting for his wife's release so they can rebuild their lives with their children, now aged seven and five. The car dealer, 31, knows that there can be no more second chances.

It is either lose the drugs or lose the family, he told The New Paper.

Recalling how he met his wife, he said: "Somebody gave her my number as she wanted to buy drugs. I found her very pretty, but I didn't date her. I was so caught up with drugs that I didn't think about girls - just drugs."

A year after the couple met, Jerry was arrested by Central Narcotics Bureau officers during a drug transaction.

He was sentenced to four years and four months in jail and given three strokes of the cane.

After his release in 2005, he bumped into Jane while clubbing.

They started dating and got married the following year, then moved into their own flat in 2007, the same year they had their first child. Jerry was then a sales engineer, earning $4,000 a month.

The couple managed to stay clean at first and had another daughter in 2009.

Falling into habit

Not long after, Jerry met an old friend, who got him hooked on ketamine again. He took the drugs home and the couple started consuming them together.

Jerry said they took ketamine up to 10 times a day and spent about $100,000 on the drug until their arrests in 2010.

After getting high, the couple would step out of their bedroom to attend to their children or have their meals before returning to the room to take even more ketamine.

Often, they would just ignore their children.

Jerry said their elder daughter, who was a toddler then, would often bang on the door, crying for them.

He said: "I remember she would bang loudly and cry, 'Papa! Mama!' But we just kept the door locked and ignored her."

Fortunately, his mother-in-law was living with them at the time. Otherwise, the little girl and her newborn sister would have been left on their own.

This went on for about a year.

Then, in 2010, they were heading home after visiting his mother for breakfast when a patrol car stopped their car at around 10am in Jurong.

Jerry said he had taken some ketamine before driving.

"Until now, I don't know why we were stopped. I thought my driving was steady that day. Looking back, maybe it was not. That's why I was stopped. I can't say for sure," he said.

"The officers checked us and found a packet of ketamine in my wife's wallet."

They were arrested and later convicted of drug consumption.

It was Jerry's second drug-related offence and he was jailed for three years.

However, it was his wife's third drug conviction.

As a result, she faced a long-term imprisonment (LT) regime and was jailed for five years.

LT regime is reserved for recalcitrant drug abusers (see report on right) and Jane will only be released in September next year.

Jerry said his mother-in-law, a businesswoman, had to take care of their daughters when they were in jail.

"She would come with my daughters for tele-visits (a service which allows visitors to see and talk to an inmate through television via tele-conferencing technology). I cried during the first tele-visit because I felt like I had neglected my girls," he said.

"They often asked me, 'Papa, when are you coming home?' and I lied that I was busy at work. It really broke my heart."

Following his release two months ago, Jerry has had to report for urine tests once a week.

He told TNP that he has sworn off drugs for good.

He said: "I'm just waiting for my wife to be released next year so we can be a complete, happy family once again."

Drug abusers on the rise

Number of drug abusers arrested:

2013: 3,581

2012: 3,507

2011: 3,326

2010: 2,887

Number of repeat abusers:

2013: 2,471

2012: 2,415

2011: 2,198

2010: 1,560

Three most commonly abused drugs in 2013

Number of abusers

Heroin: 2,062

Methamphetamine: 1,231

Cannabis: 186

Three most commonly abused drugs in 2012

Number of abusers

Heroin: 2,239

Methamphetamine: 1,022

Cannabis: 142

Three most commonly abused drugs in 2011

Number of abusers

Heroin: 1,924

Methamphetamine: 1,157

Cannabis: 127

About the long-term (LT) imprisonment regime

Introduced in 1998, it is reserved for recalcitrant drug abusers.

First- and second-time abusers will undergo a regime in drug rehabilitation centres.

Those arrested the third time or more will face the LT regime.

They will be sentenced to between five and seven years' jail. Men will be given three to six strokes of the cane.

Those who relapse after undergoing this programme will be sentenced to a more severe LT regime.

They will be jailed for between seven and 13 years and the men will receive six to 12 strokes of the cane.

From 2012 to this year, about 3,000 LT offenders have been released.

This article was first published on July 17, 2014.
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