Government calls for law to deal with Ecstasy
Government calls for law to deal with Ecstasy
JAKARTA (JP): A government agency to counter drug abuses
yesterday called on the House of Representatives to give priority
to a legislation that would empower police to prosecute dealers
and users of Ecstasy.
The inter-department agency, known by its Indonesian acronyms
Bakorlak Inpres, however denied press reports suggesting that
current legislations were insufficient to send dealers of the
"designer drug" to jail.
MD Tandjung, an official of the agency, said a legislation
dealing with psychotropic drugs, which would cover Ecstasy, is
being prepared by the government and should reach the House soon.
The agency, established by a 1971 presidential decree,
includes representatives from the National Police, the Attorney
General's Office, the Ministry of Health and he Ministry of
Information.
Tandjung said he hoped the House could give the bill the
utmost priority. "The Ecstasy problem is becoming critical," he
said.
In the absence of a legislation dealing with Ecstasy, the
authorities have had to resort to other legislation to prosecute
dealers, he said.
Police have been prevented from using the 1976 Anti-Narcotics
Law because Ecstasy cannot be classified as a narcotic. This only
covers marijuana, cocaine and morphine.
Ecstasy, which has been used for clinical treatment, is a
mixture of amphetamine derivative and caffeine, the hallucinogen
LSD and other substances that are not clearly identified.
Police have had to resort to a 1949 Law on Dangerous Drugs,
the 1992 Law on Health which deals with the distribution of drugs
that do not conform to certain standards, and Article 204 of the
Criminal Code which deals with persons who make available to
others drugs that could endanger lives.
"It's not true that there are no legislations that deal with
the problem. We have the legislation and even a jurisprudence,"
Tandjung said.
He added however that the psychotropic law currently in the
works would deal more effectively with the Ecstasy problem. The
bill in its present form stipulates a 20-year maximum
imprisonment and Rp 400 million ($170,000) fines, he disclosed.
He also pointed out at a 1994 court case which sentenced two
men, an Indonesian and a Dutchman, for attempting to sell 7,412
Ecstasy pills and 100 grams of Ecstasy powder.
Police came under severe criticism this year when they
released a number of people suspected of selling Ecstasy, on the
grounds that they did not have sufficient evidence.
Some media reports suggested that they were released because
of the weak legislation dealing with Ecstasy.
Brig. Gen. Rusdihardjo, the Director of the Investigate Crime
Department of the National Police and a member of the anti-
narcotic team, said that in a number of cases police had to
release the suspects because the Ecstasy pills confiscated turned
out to be fake after laboratory test. (01)