Drugs abuse: How low can you go?
Drugs abuse: How low can you go?
Damar Harsanto
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Amid mounting concerns due to the increasing numbers of drug
abusers in the capital, the government seems to be powerless to
contain the problem and curb the distribution of illegal drugs.
Alarmingly high figures on drug abuse and trafficking were
released by a consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
in October 2000 which stated that 3.4 million people, or more
than one-third of Jakarta's total population of 8.9 million, are
known to be drug abusers. If all the data is accurate, it means
that in only one year, the figure rose by a whopping 70 percent
from 1999 statistics.
Drug abuse in the capital has reached a terribly high level,
not only in terms of the massive number of people abusing the
drugs, but also in terms of the age of the victims.
The latest data from police records indicate that the drug
abusers comprise not only adults, but also teenagers and even
children who are still in elementary school.
Fresh findings confirmed that some 1,000 high school students
were caught while using drugs, and some 166 high schools across
the capital reported drug cases on campus. Still, many reports
and other data suggest that there are far more young users than
those who were caught in the act.
Such a worsening condition of drug abuse also seemed to
indicate failure on behalf of the government to contain illegal
drug trafficking here.
Huge amounts of heroin and other illicit drugs are smuggled
into the country on a regular basis it is estimated. Latest data
shows that heroin trafficking exceeds an astonishing 30 tons
every month.
The government's failure to crack down on drugs was admitted
by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who blamed the lack of
diligence on the part of law enforcers, who are unable or
unwilling to fight drug trafficking.
"I'm really becoming impatient with all the existing
procedures and our recent record in failing to contain drug
abuse," said Megawati during a speech in October.
She contended that the rampant drug abuse was partly due to
the absence of harsher punishment against drug dealers.
To deter the drug abusers, she declared a war against drug
trafficking by calling on law enforcers to give heavier sentences
to drug dealers and producers, including the death penalty, which
several other ASEAN neighbors have done.
She also assigned the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) with
the task of coordinating the anti-drug campaign.
Many welcomed Megawati's call for harsher punishment to drug
dealers, but some doubted that such a measure would be effective
to curb the drug trafficking.
An anti-narcotics campaigner, lawyer Henry Yosodiningrat
concurred with the president, saying the existing laws on drugs
needed amending in order to make them more effective to contain
drug-related crimes.
But, Joyce Djaelani Gordon of the Harapan Hati Kita Foundation
doubted that any effort could be effective until government
officials and law enforcers quit the practice of corruption which
obviously undermines any law that could be enacted. Reportedly
there are certain corrupt customs officials and certain police
who regularly take bribes from dealers and traffickers.
Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis expressed
skepticism that capital punishment would curb the number of drug
cases in the country.
He regretted that such stern punishment had not reached the
truly major drug traffickers.
Those who had already been given the death penalty were
nothing more than couriers, not the real drug bosses.
Data on death sentences handed down for defendants of drug
offenses mostly came from the Tangerang District Court.
In the past 20 months, the Tangerang court has surprisingly
sentenced 14 defendants to death, most of whom are foreigners, in
drug offenses.
The majority of them were arrested at Soekarno-Hatta airport
as they were attempting to smuggle drugs into the country via
Pakistan, India or Thailand.
Three of those on death row are Indonesians: Deni Setiawan
Maharwan, 28, Rani Andriani, 25 and Meirika Franola, 31. The
others included five Nepalese, three Nigerians, one Zimbabwean
and one Angolan. There is also one facing a life sentence, a
courier from Malawi.
The amount of drugs found on the defendants varied, from 554
grams to 3.8 kilograms of heroin.
Although the government's new tough stance against drug
dealers deserves some praise, most observers warned that the
effort would be futile unless the government formulates clear and
thorough strategies to deal with the entire issue.
The government must simultaneously fight drug trafficking,
uphold the law and provide rehabilitation for victims and
dealers, according to the observers.
City Police Detective of Narcotics chief Adj. Sr. Carlo Tewu
claimed that his team had done its utmost to combat the drug
trafficking.
"We have found it to be difficult to eradicate the problem due
to limited number of personnel and poor telecommunication
facilities," Carlo said.
He claimed that most syndicates supplying drugs to the black
market work in closed and solid work chains, and are therefore
more organized and efficient than the police. They are also
supported by highly skilled personnel with sophisticated
telecommunication devices -- another thing the police are sorely
lacking -- so that it was difficult for the police to break or
track down the organization.
Based on recent police findings of drug supplies in the
market, the drugs are mostly smuggled from abroad into Jakarta
through Indonesian waters, via Batam from Malaysia. The drugs are
believed to come from various parts of Asia.
In August, the police managed to arrest three men on a
speedboat carrying eight kilograms of shabu-shabu (crystal
methamphetamine), after they had arrived at Tanjung Priok port
from Batam. The police also seized 10 kilograms of marijuana from
a passenger at the port. Most of the marijuana is believed to
have been grown in northern Sumatra.
Carlo also said that many of the ecstasy pills have been
produced locally. "That's why ecstasy is relatively easy to
obtain here."
In a raid at the Taman Anggrek apartments in West Jakarta, the
police nabbed three suspected ecstasy producers, confiscating
3,940 pills and five kilograms of raw materials.
Following Megawati's statement, the police commenced several
anti-drug sweeps on places suspected to be centers of drug
trafficking. In the first four weeks of the anti-drug operation,
the police have detained 124 suspects, confiscating some 104
grams of heroin, 39,151 ecstasy pills, 60 kilograms marijuana and
other psychotropic substances.
The surprisingly small quantity of drugs seized in the raids,
sparked some pointed questions from the public, on whether or not
the police were really serious, or had the necessary integrity
for such an operation.
Carlo claimed that those police operations were aimed at
encouraging public awareness to help combat the drug trafficking,
not to catch the "big fish".
"We want to empower the people to protect themselves from the
threatening drugs," Carlo rationalized.
Many young people have fallen prey to drug dealers and
producers who charge them expensive prices for the illicit
substances which in turn, often creates an addiction and prompts
addicts to commit crimes in order to buy the drugs they need for
a fix.
Those drug dealers or producers also have been known to
unprofessionally mix the drugs with other, sometimes harmful,
substances in a ploy to lower the price of production, but they
risk further harm, even death, to drug users due to their
ignorance and greed.
Intravenous drug users are also at risk for various diseases
which can be contracted by the sharing of needles. About 40
percent of intravenous drug users have been found to be infected
with either the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The equally deadly hepatitis B
virus can also be contracted through shared needles.
The prevalence of known HIV cases also rose to an officially
reported 415 in June 2001, up from only an officially reported
three in the same month in 1998, according to Ministry of Health
data.