Drug addicts pledge to reform themselves<\/p>\n
By Ati Nurbaiti<\/p>\n
WONOSOBO, Central Java (JP): The young man kept pacing, to and
\nfro, asking what the time was. He also asked for flight, train
\nand bus schedules from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, and blurted out,
\n"Should I call home?"<\/p>\n
Budi, not his real name, couldn't make up his mind on whether
\nit was the right time to break the bad news and good news to his
\nmother. He knew his father was already on the way. He had already
\nsent a letter but thought a verbal explanation was necessary.<\/p>\n
The bad news he had conveyed in the letter was the four-year
\nsecret he had kept from his family: that he was a drug addict.
\nThe good news: that he was seeking treatment with a healer, at
\nwhose house he was staying, in Wonosobo, a two-hour drive from
\nYogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Looking at the clock, Budi, at 21 the youngest in his family,
\nwondered whether his mother in a Jakarta suburb had already
\nfainted reading the letter.<\/p>\n
He had left Jakarta with only the clothes he was wearing,
\nleaving for Wonosobo as soon as an acquaintance had told him of
\nsome addicts who had been cured of their addiction there. They
\nhad come of their own accord, to shake off a dependency that had
\nbecome unbearable.<\/p>\n
"I felt I wanted to die," Budi said. That, he said, would be
\nthe only reason drug addicts seek help. "Not really the pain,"
\nbut the despair, the feeling that "you're just stuck". Also, his
\nfiancee had left him.<\/p>\n
Before setting out he had shot up a deadly 0.5 gram of heroin,
\njust in case death could be an easy way out. And on the bus, he
\nsaid, he added a bit more. But he arrived alive.<\/p>\n
His parents, Budi said, never knew anything was wrong although
\nhe had lost 10 kilograms in the past few years.<\/p>\n
"I'd say I was on a diet," he said.<\/p>\n
At this time in the morning, the 21-year-old would usually be
\nhaving stomach cramps and be going back and forth to the bathroom
\ndue to continuous diarrhea. Now, there was no such suffering.<\/p>\n
"I've never felt better in such a long time," he said,
\npromoting his healer, Mpu Samiadji, who is also a tobacco farmer
\nand a respected public figure in the area. "And I'm sure I can
\nmake it. He (Samiadji) is only a medium. My cure will depend on
\nmyself."<\/p>\n
What Samiadji does is basically to "improve the patient's
\nstamina" to resist the drugs. From neighbors to Jakarta
\nprofessionals, he is known for his healing massage techniques and
\nself-made herbal mixtures; he has only started taking in drug
\naddicts early this year.<\/p>\n
Besides massages and herbs, he gives the youngsters advice and
\nconfidence, and trains them in the breathing techniques of the
\nSinalika martial arts school which he leads.<\/p>\n
Challenge<\/p>\n
It is too soon to pass judgment on the treatment of drug
\naddicts here. "That boy should have sent a letter," said
\nSamiadji, worrying about another addict who had left but had
\npromised to come back after only a few months of treatment.<\/p>\n
The addicts know their main challenge is not during the few
\nmonths spent with the 85-year-old man and his peaceful hilly
\nsurroundings in the Pagerejo village of the Kertek district.<\/p>\n
"I don't know whether I can face those people again..." said
\nRoy, another addict under treatment, of his college friends.<\/p>\n
One cannot point to which campus has the most addicts, he
\nsaid. Campus parking lots, canteens and lobbies are among the
\nopen places in which addicts easily get their supply, besides on
\nvarious streets.<\/p>\n
Palbatu, Kampung Bali and Tanah Abang, all in Central Jakarta,
\nand the apartments in Kota, West Jakarta, are only a few of the
\nplaces where suppliers buy their stuff to sell to addicts; both
\nsenior students and first-year students.<\/p>\n
It takes a cool head to keep your parents unaware.<\/p>\n
Budi said: "I hardly do drugs at home, I just stash a small
\namount for emergencies." To hide the telling signs of no
\nappetite: "I eat before I leave. I tell my mom I've eaten at
\nnight when I haven't."<\/p>\n
Shooting up with needles results in a faster "high" -- and
\nmuch more pain when it runs out. Roy and Budi have been addicts
\nfor years, needing more and more to get high -- one gram of
\nheroin, they claim, for one hour.<\/p>\n
Then the pains, or sakaw, begin: fevers, shivering, the
\nfeeling that something is stretching your backbone and diarrhea.<\/p>\n
"Once I saw a classmate bring several underpants, for
\nchanging, in his schoolbag," Roy said.<\/p>\n
More cash is needed with the increasing dependency.<\/p>\n
"About Rp 1 million a week," Budi said. With the high rate of
\nthe U.S. dollar a few months ago, one gram of heroin reached Rp 1
\nmillion, previously the same amount cost Rp 130,000.<\/p>\n
"That was the only time I had to sell something," said Roy of
\nhis beloved surfing board. He was no longer good at it anyway.<\/p>\n
Whereas initially the drugs made one bold physically and
\nmentally ("you get a lot of girls because you get to be good at
\ntalking and being romantic"), in time, constant paranoia and
\nhallucinations set in. Roy was no longer in shape to face the
\nwaves. He would feel paranoid about whatever he was doing, at
\neverything and everyone.<\/p>\n
Most of the time, the students claimed there was no need to
\nsell things or steal, somehow, "the money was always there". They
\ninsisted they always paid their school fees, which contributed to
\nthe lack of parental suspicion.<\/p>\n
Roy said he has tried rehabilitation with a Jakarta
\npsychiatrist but said he could not stand the therapy; involving
\nmuch sleep-inducing medication, which made the brain inactive.<\/p>\n
Budi said he wasn't interested in a well-known rehabilitation
\ncenter in Jakarta. "No good. You're greeted by a cleaning service
\nemployee or some other employee whispering that he's got good
\nstuff." Addicts would get supplies from visiting friends or steal
\nneedles from nurses, which were reused several times.<\/p>\n
Then, he said, all that is needed is a bit of margarine to
\ngive old needles the necessary grease to shoot up.<\/p>\n
Addicts have no fear of the law, even if they have heard that
\nsuppliers can get away much easily than addicts: the family of an
\narrested addict could pay at least Rp 20 million for his release,
\nwhile a supplier with good police relations could walk away for
\njust Rp 500,000.<\/p>\n
Roy and Budi say they started using drugs in high school out
\nof curiosity; and now they wonder if they can make the best of a
\nsecond chance.<\/p>\n
Roy said he would never forgive himself for not admitting his
\nactions when his father was still alive; now, he is anxious to
\nsave his remaining family, "through saving myself".<\/p>\n
He is set on having his own design studio, though he feels
\nmuch of his talent has been wasted. Budi, who studies at an
\nacademy of finance, gets down on bended knees and declares
\nwithout doubt: "I want to have my own small credit bank."<\/p>\n
But first, "I just want to reform myself."<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/drug-addicts-pledge-to-reform-themselves-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }