Government-NGOs launch anti-drug campaign

JAKARTA (JP): A consortium of government and non-government institutions launched on Monday a nationwide five-year campaign aimed at encouraging young people to eschew drugs.

In its initial year, the antidrug movement will target the nine cities which are most affected by the drug problem.

The consortium groups the National Police, National Drugs Coordinating Board (BKNN) and the Global Nusantara Foundation.

Through the campaign, the consortium hopes to encourage the people's participation in combating drug dealers and curbing the number of drug users in the country, which has reached an estimated 3.1 million.

"Similar activities have already been conducted by the National Police, NGOs and other institutions, but these have yet to bear fruit in busting drug syndicates and reducing the number of drug users," the consortium said in its report.

The main activities in the campaign comprise dialog, polling and visualization. Other activities include health work, publication, competitions and social work.

The activities will involve youth, students, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the government, police, cultural activists, religious figures, entrepreneurs and community figures.

Private companies PT Martin Putra Sejahtera and PT ABC are included in the consortium, which underscores the goals of professionalism and good management in the campaign.

In the first year of the campaign, it will be conducted in nine provincial capitals. The program will be divided into three periods of four months each.

In the first period, which will involve the National Police, the campaign will be held in Jakarta, West Java, Central Java and East Java.

The campaign will move to South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi for the second quarter, where it will be jointly conducted with the Attorney General's Office.

The Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare will be involved in the third phase in Riau, North Sumatra, and West Kalimantan.

The Ministry of National Education reported recently that there were at least 1,875 students from 318 junior and senior high schools in the capital who had been identified as new drug users last year.

Out of these 1,875 students, 575 have had to go through a thorough rehabilitation process with the support of their parents.

In a recent survey conducted in a total of 1,030 high schools in Jakarta, 166 drug-related cases involving 1,015 students were found.

Out of 1,060 junior high schools surveyed in Jakarta, 152 also reported similar problems affecting 860 pupils.

The real number of teenage drug addicts may be far higher as many cases go undetected or are hidden to avoid public embarrassment. (ylt/hdn)