Drug war hones in on the healthy

Drug war hones in on the healthy

Abdul Khalik and Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Bogor

The Office of the State Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs
will cooperate with the Jakarta Police to hold antidrug training
programs aimed at young people and athletes in the capital.

State Minister Adhyaksa Dault, who met with the city police
chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani at police headquarters on Tuesday,
said after the meeting his office and the police had agreed on
the details of a program to educate young people and athletes
about the dangers of drugs.

"My office will focus on training and educational programs
while the police will focus on law enforcement. We will teach as
many young people, students and athletes in Jakarta as we can to
help them avoid drugs," he said.

Adhyaksa said the war on drugs had become urgent as the number
of drug cases in Jakarta involving young people had steadily
risen over the last several years.

He said recent data showed there were about 2.9 million drug
users in Jakarta, with most of them under the age of 20.

Although Adhyaksa said he had not allocated any funds from the
state budget for the antidrug campaign, he said the money would
be ready when needed.

"We will ask government and private institutions to take part
in financing the campaign. For instance, I have talked with the
state minister for state enterprises about approaching state
enterprises to provide funds for our programs," he said.

Adhyaksa said his office would focus on athletes and former
athletes to steer them away from drugs.

"We will ask state enterprises to provide one or two jobs for
athletes each year. We have 120 state enterprises so each year
lots of athletes would receive steady jobs. Athletes should have
more options than working as security guards at nightclubs when
they retire," he said.

He said his office had drafted a law on sports that would
allow it to provide pensions for retired athletes.

"We hope to have a law on sports by September. This will
guarantee athletes a better future," he said.

Indonesia's first world champion boxer, Ellias Pical, was
arrested two weeks ago for drug dealing. He is now in police
detention.

Many critics have accused Indonesia of neglecting its athletes
once they retire and no longer serve a use for the country.

"We will try to help Ellias Pical by asking the police to
bring the case to court as soon as possible. We will also provide
him a lawyer. After all, he is our first world champion boxer,"
he said.

Meanwhile, the Bogor regency has established a Regency
Narcotics Body (BNK) to lead the campaign against drugs in the
regency.

"We will cooperate with the police to introduce special
programs suitable for Bogor. We will combine the existing Anti-
Narcotics Brigade into the BNK," said Bogor regency secretary
Perry Soeparman, who was inaugurated on Tuesday as the head of
the BNK.