Govt targets youths in fight against drug trafficking

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government launched on Tuesday a nationwide drug awareness program targeting youths ahead of the International Day Against Illegal Drug Use and Trafficking, which falls on June 26.

Jointly organized by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), the national drive will mostly reach out to high school students.

"The situation is concerning as about 60 percent of the total population of 33.7 million youths aged between 18 years and 24 years have taken some form of illegal drug," BNN director Maj. Gen. Togar Sianipar said.

BNN's latest survey, he said, contained shocking results, as 800 elementary school students, 8,000 junior high school students and 10,000 senior high school students said they had tried drugs.

Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah said that an intensive antidrug campaign targeting students in their early years of education would be much more effective at this time.

"It would be too late if someone has to undergo drug rehabilitation to get over his or her addiction. It would cost a lot of money and not everybody can afford that," Bachtiar said.

The program will also involve activists from non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

During the program, government workers, NGO activists and police officers will visit schools to raise the students' awareness about the dangers of taking drugs.

Bachtiar did not reveal the budget allocated for the program.

Togar said the program would be evaluated every three years.

The program aims to curb the number of drug addicts among youths to only five percent in the next three years.

"The long-term target is to free the country of illegal drugs by 2015," he said.

Learning from past cases in which illegal drugs were smuggled into the country, Togar urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to stiffen visa approval procedures for people arriving from countries where most convicted drug traffickers came from.

Most illegal substances are transported into the country from abroad, except for marijuana, which comes from Aceh. Percusor -- a chemical used in the production of ecstasy -- is also smuggled into Indonesia.

Commenting on the case of two Nigerians who were caught operating an international drug network from jail, Togar said drug trafficking was rife in prisons.

"There are several loopholes that we can find in our prison system. With a maximum capacity for 500 prisoners, most jails are crammed with between 2,500 and 3,000 inmates," he said.

He said that guards at prisons housing drug convicts and suspects should only work a short term to prevent them from becoming close with the inmates.