HIV transmission: Fighting to say no to peer pressure and drugs

HIV transmission: Fighting to say no to peer pressure and drugs

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"Destiny is what you make it" is perhaps the only saying that
describes the life of Yudi, a 23-year-old recovered drug addict.

For five years ago, he had never thought of using drugs, let
alone the possibility of contracting HIV.

Apparently, life has a different way of showing him his inner
strength.

He was only 20 when he tested positive for the virus that
causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), two years
after his first encounter with the murky drug world.

"I was 14 years old when I started to smoke marijuana. I
didn't mean to use it, you know. I was only trying to take a sip
from my friend's glass of beer. But he dared me to smoke,"
recalled the gaunt young man.

As he sat in the dining room of his home, his hollow eyes
wandered outside, taking him back to his days in junior high
school.

"I vividly remember how my friend teased me, calling me
chicken. I hated it. I hated the word. So, I decided to show them
that I wasn't chicken ... and I took the dope and smoked it," he
said weakly, trying hard to hold back tears.

He initially disliked the feeling of the drug, and swore not
to take it again. But since he saw his friend every day and could
not avoid him as they went to the same school, he once again gave
in to the temptation, moving on to try low-grade heroin.

"He gave me a small bag of white powder and told me to burn it
and inhale the smoke... and stupid me, I did. Shortly afterward,
I was sweating, I felt nauseous and I threw up."

Still, his adverse reaction did not stop him from doing it
again, with easy access to drugs from the many dealers at his
school and in his neighborhood.

As his tolerance to the drug increased, he moved into
injecting. It was then that he shared needles with two friends,
never thinking if they were HIV-positive.

"My parents knew all about this, but they could do nothing as
at the time, I was horrible. I didn't listen to them... I regret
it," he said with a sigh.

He kept on injecting until his body could take no more and he
collapsed a year later.

"I was immediately taken to a hospital in Salemba, Central
Jakarta, and was treated for three weeks. It was then that I
found out I tested positive for HIV," he said.

It took him months before he could finally accept his
condition.

"All my friends and my parents didn't discriminate against me.
They supported and treated me like I was one of them. And that
woke me up from those sad days."

Yudi is not alone: Assaulted from all sides about what it
means to be a trendy teenager, including drug use, many teens
find it tough to say no to temptation.

AIDS Special Discussion Group (PokDisus AIDS) chairman
Samsuridjal Djauzi disclosed recently that 87 percent of 285 HIV-
positive teenagers were injecting drug users (IDUs), and 96
percent of them used drugs as experimentation or to "look cool".

A 2003 survey conducted by Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa (YCAB)
found that 97 percent of respondents were aware of the danger of
using drugs, yet 80 percent of them were still using. It was also
disclosed that 80 percent of drug addicts treated in the Drug
Rehabilitation Hospital (RSKO) were teenagers aged between 15 and
20.

Data from the Ministry of Health revealed that in 2003, half
of approximately between 124,000 and 169,000 IDUs were teenagers
aged between 15 and 24, and were HIV-positive. The number of
people living with HIV/AIDS was estimated at between 80,000 and
130,000.

National Narcotics Board (BNN) executive director Comr. Gen.
Togar Sianipar spelled out two programs -- supply reduction and
demand reduction -- that had been implemented to help fight drug
abuse.

"The supply reduction program is to cut the supply of drugs.
For that, we are deploying policemen at all Indonesia's seaports
and airports and arresting the responsible persons," he said.

More important, he said, was conducting the demand reduction
program -- holding a mass campaign on saying no to drugs at
schools and public places.

As a concrete commitment, he said, BNN cooperated with non-
governmental organizations, including YCAB, to blanket schools
and campuses with posters.

"These days, teenagers are facing strong peer pressure. They
want to be just like what most of the in-crowd do, even if it
includes smoking pot. They don't want to be called 'chicken'.
They want to look macho and cool," Togar said.

Family and teachers, he asserted, were needed in the campaign
as they could educate teenagers by providing them with more
information.

"Yes, we have the campaign. But without parents sitting down,
talking with their children on how to say no to drugs, these all
will remain merely a theory," said Togar.

It's time to recruit all layers of society in the fight, or
Yudi's story of a ruined life will become the biography of a
generation.