Campaign against drug abuse needs serious shock therapy: Expert

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Rianti Surya (58), a mother of eight children, was bitter when asked about her opinion of drug abuse. Two of her five sons have died at 23 and 18 respectively because of overdoses and pneumonia caused by drug abuse.

"I don't know what's wrong with this country. I've lost my sons but drug dealers are still free to distribute their evil wares in my neighborhood," she told The Jakarta Post with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Rianti, who lives in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, said that her youngest son would have to spend the next three years in jail after he pleaded guilty to possessing heroin during a car race.

"Drugs have jeopardized my life and thrown my family into misery," she said.

The country's drug experts have repeatedly said that harsher penalties were needed to combat the spread of drug abuse as the number of users had now reached three million throughout the country.

"We should be serious in this battle as these numbers are like an iceberg, only a small bit of which is visible above the sea while the part below is immense," Dadang Hawari, a professor in psychiatry at the University of Indonesia's School of Medicine told the Post.

He is one of those who have said that supply reduction and demand reduction are two ways of eradicating drug abuse, which has claimed the lives of some 500,000 teenagers aged between 13 and 25.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Saturday seminar on Parents' Roles in Handling Teenage Problems, Dadang, who is also a drug consultant with the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), said that the drug supply could be reduced through law enforcement and the prevention of drug dealing and trafficking, while the demand for drugs could be reduced through prevention, therapy and rehabilitation efforts.

Separately, Al Bachri Husin, director of Narcotics, Psychotropic and other Additive Substances Control at the National Agency for Drug and Food Control (BPOM), said that the government needed to tighten its control at places like airports, seaports and border crossings where drug trafficking often occurred.

Dadang and Al Bachri agreed that the new approach taken by the BNN during the observation of International Drug Day in fighting against the spread of drug abuse would not be effective.

"We cannot ask car and motorcycle drivers to switch their lights on for the whole month. This has nothing to do with the eradication of drug abuse at the grassroots level," Al Bachri said.

"Ceremonial things are not needed here. If we want to have a real war on drugs, we need shock therapy like China has applied: executing drug dealers on International Drug Day," Dadang said.

He added that consistency on the part of the legal authorities in imposing just and fair punishments was a crucial factor for successful law enforcement.

"We cannot expect to see justice for all implemented here if drug dealers, who are supposed to get the death sentence, just get four months in jail while a judge who always imposes harsher sentences is transferred to another department," he said.

Dadang urged the government to coordinate with crucial institutions like the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, the BPOM and the Attorney General's Office.

"How can we sweep the floor if the broom itself is dirty," he said referring to the country's unreliable legal system.

Dadang added that the BNN had the power to close down the drug producers and drag the owners before the court. "The BNN reports to the President so it has the authority to do what is needed in the effort to eradicate drug abuse," he said.

Al Bachri said that officials at airports and seaports had to be alert for the tricks played by the drug dealers.

"Sometimes the drug mafia successfully get by officials because they import the drug materials in the form of perfume ingredients. They will later convert these ingredients in local drug labs," he said.