Drug addicts share their experiences

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.