Fighting drug abuse

The House of Representative is this week slated to discuss a draft law on psychotropical drugs, a step that is long awaited due to the widespread abuse of Ecstasy in the community. The hope is that if or when the draft is passed into law, the fight against the abuse of this drug can be conducted more effectively. If the draft legislation is passed, Ecstasy users will be liable to heavy penalties, the most severe being life imprisonment and a fine of up to hundreds of millions of rupiah.

Legal tools, however, are only part of the means needed to fight such crime. A much more complicated aspect is that of applying the law amid the existing technical and non-technical constraints. This is an important consideration because, given the rapid spread of Ecstasy abuse, there is quite a possibility that one or more syndicates are behind the trade.

The observable fact meanwhile is that our state apparatus is being confronted with both technical and non-technical constraints. Technical constraints exist due to limitations in both the number and capability of the personnel available, besides limited funds. Non-technical constraints arise because of the limited reach of the law due to the big possibility that a number of powerful people are involved in the Ecstasy trading syndicate(s).

For that reason, if the draft law on psychotropical drugs is passed into law, the biggest challenge facing our security apparatus will be to apply the sanctions of the law strictly and indiscriminately.

-- Republika, Jakarta