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.