[wideawake]

Mr Ruddock said the case had mitigating circumstances, because Nguyen had said he smuggled the drugs to earn enough money to pay off legal bills of A$30,000 (£13,000). incurred by his twin brother, a one-time heroin addict.

Mitigating?

Those are aggravating circumstances. He knew firsthand the damage that this addiction inflicts on addicts' families and he decided to become a heroin mule anyway?

Hanging's too good for 'im.

[ErnBatavia]

If ever there's a place to fly into that gives fair warnings about "zero tolerance", it's Singapore...you get warned on your Landing Card and repeatedly at the Changi Airports "Amnesty Bins".

[jackbenimble]

America could learn a lot from Singapore! As they currently stand, the biggest proponents of our drug laws must be the dealers who profit immensely from them. The laws obviously don't work and never have.

I could go either way on a solution. We should either end the prohibition or we should adopt Singapore style draconian punishments. It really does not matter to me but the status quo needs to go.