Drug addicts share their experiences

By K. Basrie and Soeryo Winoto

JAKARTA (JP): Ecstasy addicts can enjoy themselves fully only if there's dancing, music, crowds, peppermint gum, certain tonic water products and liters of water.

They say it would be total nightmare and a waste of money to stay at home after consuming the costly pills, which they call Inex (derived from the enak, meaning delicious).

Soon after taking the pill, users feel energetic and automatically shake or move their head, hands and body to channel their energy. Ecstasy users therefore feel around a sea of people and pounding house music.

The peppermint gum is used to help control chattering teeth, another normal response to Ecstasy. Tonic water helps boost the substance's effects, while the water is to avoid dehydration.

Ecstasy addicts usually have dry lips and their thought patterns change so they cannot enjoy normal life without the pills.

In interviews with The Jakarta Post, some regular Ecstasy users and a former drug addict told of their experiences and views on the substance.

Vera, 23, a divorced mother with a four-year-old girl: Inex has been part of my daily life since three years ago when a friend of mine asked me to try it.

I find the pills wonderful and good to enjoy the nightlife because it makes me steady until midday.

I can dance for three to four hours non-stop, compared to the previous 20 minutes without Inex.

The bad thing is that I cannot sleep long enough. I lose my appetite and sexual drive, get angry easily and my lips are always dry.

So far, I have not found a pill as "friendly" as Ecstasy.

I get at least seven free pills a week from old and new friends I meet at the pubs or nightclubs here in Jakarta.

Gilang (Bowo), 26, a male hairdresser: Inex is the most excellent pill that can help people enjoy music and dance a whole night without having to worry about brutal visitors because the pills make you calm and coolheaded.

I first started on the pills two years ago when a friend at a gay rendezvous party gave one to me. It's good.

I would like to say that Inex is better than beer, heroin and marijuana because they provoke people to fight.

An unnamed taxi driver: Please, please never ever try this kind of pill. It's very addictive. I took the pills for the first time several months ago from a female passenger. She then invited me to go to her house and we went to bed.

On the same day, I made love again with my wife for several times without feeling tired. That's stupid but I can't run away from the pills now. I have to go to the passenger and buy some pills from her and listen to the music in my cab.

Fitri, 21, a college student: I first took Ecstasy last year at a discotheque. It was sold at Rp 75,000 each. It's good for me, especially if I want to go to bed late after preparing for an examination. It's not addictive for me because I can stop taking it any time I want.

Yuni, a university student: One day last year, my boyfriend gave me a pill which I found fantastic, especially if we want to enjoy music at discotheque and make love.

I feel that I have a lot of energy and can keep my eyes open longer than I used to be able to.

If I feel tired, I just asked my boyfriend to find me one.

Satrio, a journalist: I had my first experience with marijuana in 1970s, when I was a college student. A new friend gave me a cigarette, which I soon discovered was ganja.

Since then I often met other people with the same hobby: smoking marijuana. This was what we called becoming modern. I also took drugs like Mandrax, Nembutal, Magadon and Valium, which strengthened my image as a modern man.

I easily bought marijuana from my supplier, who said that he got the stuff from Medan. I wonder how he always had stock. I became addicted to marijuana and I would not hesitate to knock at his door even at 2 a.m. when I wanted it.

Everyday, I smoked at least an envelope of ganja and at least once a week we held a ganja party at my rented house. The ganja party often turned into an orgy.

I felt high and hungry whenever I smoked marijuana, but that was really fun and people who had never tried it would find it difficult to imagine.

As I had a closer relationship with drugs, I knew other stuff like stick, or Buddha, tai kebo (buffalo dung) and magic mushrooms. Stick was scratch and then mixed with cigarettes. Bits of the mushrooms were mixed in the cigarettes.

To get certain drugs like Mandrax, we often asked for prescriptions from physicians who were willing to help us. Once, when we were at a pharmacy to get nine tablets of Nembutal, the receptionist called a policeman. We started the engine of our Honda CB 100 and left right away.

I had never tried morphine because I was afraid. But once I sold it. Once I got some morphine from my friend whose father worked in the Ministry of Agriculture. He bought a box of morphine, containing 10 tubes. Each tube had a syringe. I sold each tube for Rp 1,500, which was very cheap. The label said that it was for American GIs in Vietnam. I don't know how it reached the Ministry of Agriculture. My friend said it was for the plants. I don't know.

I had the most horrible experience when I had a kilogram of morphine from Jakarta with a skull and crossbones label reading Danger. I kept it in my backpack for one month in my house.

Then a friend came to take it, saying that there was a buyer from Semarang who would buy it for Rp 500,000. We planned to buy a used motorcycle, which at that time cost Rp 400,000.

Two days later, I read in the newspaper that my friend was arrested for selling morphine. He was jailed for six months. Luckily, he did not mention my name.

I stopped taking drugs in 1975 after I joined Javanese mysticism (kebatinan). The teacher seemed to know everything about me and I felt ashamed. I stopped taking drugs and sleeping around, and also stopped drinking beer.

I sometimes missed marijuana very much. In 1976 I moved to East Java to work. When it was unbearable, I took a night bus to Yogyakarta and smoked marijuana with my friends and then returned on the following day.

After I got married in 1977, I stopped taking drugs. Sometimes I feel the desire to smoke, but it has never been that strong.

Now, I can tell my two sons that what is dangerous is not the drug, but when the user does not know the danger of the drug, does not want to stop (they can stop if they want to) and does not know when to stop.