Drug users, dealers still addicted as ever

JAKARTA (JP): The drug problem prevails with only a slight change in its distribution and the market demand as users and traffickers gradually shift to heroin's derivative putauw and amphetamine-type shabu-shabu, a police official said Saturday.

But the change has not, by any means, prompted those in the drug scene to cast aside other drugs like Ecstasy or marijuana, according to city police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang.

"All the drugs still exist and are consumed by the junkies. But, yes, we've been confiscating more putauw and shabu-shabu than Ecstasy since late last year," he told The Jakarta Post.

During the first three months of this year alone, the Jakarta Police narcotics unit has reportedly arrested at least 30 suspected drug users, traffickers or suppliers and shot dead three others during raids.

No less than 30 kilograms of marijuana, four cannabis saplings, 50 grams of putauw, 5.5 kg of shabu-shabu, 780 grams of cocaine and dozens of Ecstasy pills have reportedly been confiscated during the same period.

Aritonang emphasized that the small amount of Ecstasy seized from suspects could not guarantee that the drug was no longer popular or that no one would be prompted to smuggle the drug from European countries where it originated.

He made the comments in response to Wednesday's statement by the acting chief of the customs and excise office at Soekarno- Hatta International Airport, Harjadi, about the correlation between the decrease in people caught smuggling Ecstasy into the country and the ability of some people here to produce the drug themselves.

"We have not found any drug smuggling attempts which related to Ecstasy this year because it can now be made locally," Harjadi said after briefing the media following the arrest on an Indonesian man who tried to smuggle 4.8 kg of shabu-shabu on a flight from Hong Kong. The drug find was the office's first bust this year.

Last year, it confiscated about 63,481 Ecstasy pills, 5.7 kg of heroin, 4.1 kg of shabu-shabu and 2.9 kg of hashish.

Aritonang said it was possible authorities found it more difficult to nail drug suspects simply because the latter had become more sophisticated and used many means to avoid being caught smuggling or transporting drugs.

However, he admitted that some people here had refined their ability to produce Ecstasy.

"But, they can only make the secondary goods, not the real stuff. They usually mix the real Ecstasy pills, which still need to be supplied by overseas producers, with other ingredients."

A source familiar with the drug scene, who asked for anonymity, shared Aritonang's view, saying that substandard Ecstasy was sold much cheaper than imported pills because of its secondary quality.

"The secondary stuff is called oplosan. It is sold for less than Rp 30,000 per pill, far cheaper than Rp 150,000 for each real pill of the highest quality," he told the Post Saturday.

He said that an oplosan pill, which also had various names according to its appearance and the ingredients mixed with it, was basically made from a mixture of crushed imported Ecstasy, tapioca and cheap tranquilizer-type koplo pills.

"If I'm not mistaken, the ratio is 1:3:6. One real pill is mixed with three parts of tapioca and six koplo pills to produce up to 10 oplosan pills."

The more secondary pills produced during the mixing process, the lower its quality and the cheaper it is, he added.

The source said there was actually no real change in the composition of the drug market as each drug had its own group of users.

"Ecstasy is used by people from all walks of life who simply want to have fun in their surroundings, usually at discotheques. While heroin, putauw and shabu-shabu are used more by members of the middle- to upper-class society who prefer to enjoy the drug by themselves or with a small exclusive group at private premises or intimate parties."

He said the demand for each type of drug had not changed and the price had remained fairly stable. Heroin is sold for about Rp 450,000 per gram, shabu-shabu Rp 350,000 per gram and putauw Rp 250,000 per gram.

However, he said, some people might decide to shift from one drug to another usually depending on the price or just following the trend.

"One drug can be very popular during a certain period of time and seems to be 'forgotten' when another drug becomes popular. But the drug is still there, it never vanishes." (cst)