Drop In Center offers help to narcotics 'victims'

JAKARTA (JP): It can feel like doomsday when you find out that your child has become a drug addict. You desperately want to cure your child's addiction but are too ashamed to seek outside help.

Don't be discouraged. You are not alone. There are many parents with similar problems who are willing to share their experiences and help you get through the hard times.

Melani Hermanto from the Drop In Center, a help center set up by the parents of drug addict children to provide counseling and advisory services, said solving a drug dependency problem was much easier if it was done with help.

"Families of children who abuse or are addicted to drugs should open their hearts and let other people assist them. There are a lot of people who will be happy to help," she told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Sharing information about how to detect an addiction to drugs and then how best to deal with it can help parents to cope with what is a very confusing situation, she said, adding that was why the center, which is located at the Senayan Golf Driving Range in South Jakarta, had been set up.

Melani said one of the basic problems was that parents were always late in detecting their children's addiction.

"Adults are always too late to know about it. Why? Because we are too busy with ourselves," she said.

Psychiatrist Dadang Hawari said parents of addicted children often failed to notice their offspring using drugs at home and covertly selling their belongings to finance their habits.

"Parents are always shocked to find out that their children were not as obedient as they thought. So, give your child a couple of minutes of your precious time. Be careful, drugs can change your child's character," he said.

There is no clear figure of the number of teenagers who are drug users.

Psychologist Riza Sarasvita Pramudyo from the Drugs Dependence Hospital in South Jakarta said most of the patients treated where she works are aged between 15 and 25 years old.

"Seventy eight percent of them come from normal families," she added.

Official data indicates that there are approximately 130,000 people who have drug addictions.

However Dadang said this number represents only one tenth of the real figure.

"Examining the drugs problem is like looking at an iceberg. All we can see is the top of it. That's why we have to multiply the official number by 10 to get a more accurate idea of the extent of the problem," he said during a one-day seminar on drug abuse and how it affects families held here on Saturday.

Dadang said 80 percent of addicts were introduced to drugs by members of their peer group.

Satya Joewana, a doctor from Atma Jaya private hospital, said parents should have a reasonable knowledge of narcotics and their effects so that they can tell if their children start to experiment with drugs.

He said that heroin made addicts very sleepy, gave them slurred speech and breathing difficulties, and made their skin feel cold and clammy.

He added that the use of ecstasy pills was characterized by an increase in blood pressure, thirst and a lack of appetite. (cst)