A thousand new drug users everyday: Father Somar
A thousand new drug users everyday: Father Somar
JAKARTA (JP): A 12-year-old girl approaches a sweet corn
seller in Blok M, South Jakarta. "Pak, your tummy looks so
chubby. I have just the right thing for you," she tells him.
The girl opens her palm, showing him a small pack of shabu-
shabu (crystal metamphetamine).
"This is a very good drug. It'll make you thinner in three
days. Guaranteed. If not, you can have your money back," she
says.
The sweet corn seller that particular afternoon was Father
Lambertus Somar, head of the Kasih Mulia Foundation, an NGO that
works with drug and alcohol addicts.
He was in disguise to gather more information about drug
selling on Jakarta's streets.
He said he found out that the girl lived in a slum area
somewhere behind Blok M with seven other younger sisters and
brothers.
"We can see how easy it is to get drugs nowadays: at every
level of society.
"The girl sold drugs everyday to make a living. Amazingly, the
girl herself was not a user. She knows what it does to people. It
turns out she was the family's breadwinner," 68-year-old Somar
told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
At least 1,000 people in the country are introduced to drugs
everyday, said Somar, a priest who is also famous for his natural
healing abilities. He has been practicing alternative medicine
since 1982.
Out of the around two million drug addicts in the country, 17
percent of them eventually die as a result of their habit, he
said.
"The number of addicts this year has soared up to 1,000
percent compared to the number in 1996. This year, no less than
166 high schools in Jakarta have students that are affected by
drugs. Drugs are killing our young people. It's getting worse
because people just don't care," he said.
The Kasih Mulia Foundation has 20 staff members that work with
patients from all different religions and ethnic backgrounds.
"We use a different approach for every patient. We have
treated more than 60 people this year, aged between 17 and 39
years old," he said.
A willingness to be cured and to have a healthy life has got
to come from the addicts' themselves, he said.
A workshop program has also set up to help recovering addicts
find jobs and rebuild their lives.
"It needs at least three to five years for addicts to become
fully cured. In most cases, drug addicts end up with damaged
nervous systems as well as lung and liver illnesses.
"Most of our patients cannot afford to pay for the treatment,
which is Rp 3 million per month. Most of them can only pay
between Rp 5,000 and Rp 100,000," he said.
The foundation now has seven rehab centers in west, south and
North Jakarta as well as in Tangerang.
Its main center is in Stella Maris Monastery on Jl. Taman
Pluit Permai Timur in North Jakarta.
In an effort to raise money for a new rehabilitation center in
Cisaat, Sukabumi, West Java, the foundation and its sponsor PT
Makindo Tbk. is auctioning a number of paintings and sculptures
by several artists, including Srihadi Soedarsono, Arie Smit,
Widayanto, G. Sidharta, at Hotel Gran Melia on Thursday.
Initial construction of the center on a seven-hectare plot in
Cisaat is expected to start next month. The center will have the
capacity to accommodate 300 patients.
A "one-stop service" drug clinic complete with a prevention
and information center is also set to be built early next year in
Slipi, West Jakarta.
The Kasih Mulia foundation is located at Jl. Camar Indah I,
Blok DD 10, in Ruko Pantai Indah Kapuk, North Jakarta. Interested
parties can call (021) 588-103. (edt)