Covid-19 made mother-of-two realise it was time to kick her drug addiction

SINGAPORE – On her 16th birthday, she tried drugs for the first time. And on her 18th birthday, she was arrested for the first time for drug consumption.

She was sent to drug rehabilitation centres (DRC) and prison eight times over the next few years for drug offences.

Then, the Covid-19 pandemic hit while she was behind bars.

Unable to help her elderly parents and two young children cope with the pandemic, she finally realised she had to stay away from drugs permanently.

Syasya (not her real name), 47, is a resident at Rise Above Halfway House in St George’s Lane, the first secular halfway house for women offenders undergoing community-based rehabilitation programmes.

Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam officially opened the women’s sanctuary on July 4, which can serve up to 30 residents at a time.

As the eldest of four siblings, Syasya helped her parents care for them while growing up. She said she was very religious, having attended a madrasah.

She dropped out of school at 13 to help her family cope financially, then mixed with bad company and became addicted to heroin and Subutex. 

Subutex was approved by the Ministry of Health in 2000 to treat opiate-dependent drug abusers, who became addicted to it instead. In 2006, the drug was reclassified as a Class A Controlled Drug. 

On her time in prison, Syasya said: “Because of Covid-19, we weren’t allowed to have any visitors, so I couldn’t see my family at all. I prayed for forgiveness and asked God for a chance to see my family again. I had had enough (of drugs).”

As Rise Above residents are allowed to go out to work, Syasya is an outlet supervisor at a restaurant. Now going through a divorce, she had married at 30 and has two daughters, aged 16 and 17. Her husband was also a drug abuser.

A Rise Above spokesman said one of its goals is to help reintegrate residents into the workforce.

He said: “Syasya has been consistent in her resolve to do good since she came to Rise Above. She is often willing to take the advice of others that would benefit her.”