More trouble ahead as drug menace takes hold

Drugs and alcohol have caused much trouble for many families, and the problem is apparently becoming more serious, as reflected by the increasing number of addicts. Joyce and David Djaelani Gordon, both AIDS and addiction consultants, wrote the articles on this page for The Jakarta Post.

JAKARTA (JP): The drug problem is here in Indonesia. And more people are beginning to realize that this problem will not simply go away by ignoring it. Neither will denial help the situation.

Drug and alcohol abuse and addiction have already damaged the lives of many thousands of families. More and more families are beginning to have close encounters with the "nightmare of the addiction kind". They are beginning to experience the trail of damage addiction creates. All of a sudden, the problem of addiction is becoming very real. Voices of desperation, heartbreak and concern are becoming a common cry in Indonesia today.

In his World Anti-Drugs Day 1999 keynote address at the State Palace late last month, President Habibie warned, "Indonesia is no longer a transit point for drugs. It has become a market as well as producer of some drugs." Declaring a battle against drugs, Habibie added, "dealers are especially targeting young people, causing drug abuse to spread rapidly among the young. This situation does not seem to be the least affected by economic and political crises."

Drugs are becoming very easy to find nowadays, if you know where and what to look for.

Lenny, 26, has an active nightlife, living it up in bars and discotheques. Although she says she is not an addict, she has had frequent encounters with drug pushers.

"They'd come to our table, casually sit with us like they know us, and tell us they have some stuff for us if we want it. They were willing to give us free samples. I never dared to take the offer though. I only drink," she said casually.

"One of their tricks is to get you to use it, then to like it, and eventually, you will have to buy it from them," added Lenny, who comes from a well-to-do family.

You can find drugs in many bars and discotheques throughout Jakarta. The most popular drugs used in these settings are cimenk (marijuana) and ineks (ecstasy). Cimenk is normally sold for Rp 100,000 per envelope. Prices of locally made ecstasy may vary from Rp 30,000 to Rp 70,000 per tablet. The better the ecstasy, the more expensive. Imported ones may fetch up to Rp 150,000 per tablet, and are usually targeted for the more affluent crowd.

Students also report that there are many pushers who haunt school and university grounds as well, just waiting for young students to walk out from schools. Some pushers even sell "hard drugs" in canteens and toilets.

Budi, 17, a student from a private school in South Jakarta, said, "Pushers also often sell drugs posing as 'street vendors', taping the drugs under mineral water bottles. You take the bottle, pay for your drink and drugs, and simply walk away."

"Many teenagers also use drugs prior to student brawls, to quash their fear. Under the influence of drugs, they don't even fear the police," he added.

The areas of Baturaja, Tanah Abang to Kampung Bali, and Jl. Jaksa are dubbed by addicts as the "Golden Triangle" for the putauw (low-grade heroin) market. However, sales are not limited to this Golden Triangle, neither is putauw the only drug sold in these areas. Delivery orders can also be made. Jatinegara, Cipinang, Gudang Peluru and Senayan are other areas where users declare you can easily buy drugs. Generally, a gram of putauw costs about Rp 150,000 to Rp 300,000, depending on quality. The same goes for a gram of shabu-shabu (methampethamine). These drugs also come in small affordable packages of Rp 20,000 to Rp 40,000, which is enough for novices to get high on, and share a little with others.

Peppy, 27, a recovered addict, said he used 0.5 gram a day. You can easily calculate how much he had to spend for his drug habit per month. He used to inhale (drag, chase the dragon) putauw, but then turned to injecting because it creates better highs, on smaller amounts of drugs, wasting less.

The fact that drugs are easily available and also affordable, is enough to send parents worrying that their children's pocket money will be used to buy drugs. They should! Pills like nipam (barbiturate) only cost Rp 2,500 to Rp 3,000 a strip, and many young people pop Nipam like they would candies, creating a cheap high. They can also easily afford locally made ecstasy.

Understanding that a drug habit can be very hard on their pockets after a while, many addicts begin to steal. Some progress and become pushers to support their personal drug habit. By turning on others to their drug of choice, pushers can negotiate a better deal from their connection, selling some and having enough left over to use for themselves.

However, this happens only with the less-serious dealers. Serious dealers are hardly ever addicts, and are calculating and cunning businesspeople. They recruit chosen people that in turn recruit other people that put the drugs onto the streets. Chosen people are those who need money, yet do not need the drugs for themselves. Addicts are not a good choice as they are hard to trust and often steal and use their own merchandise to support their habit.

Donny, 37, said, "I got fired during the crisis. I used drugs to escape from the painful reality. I used, and later began dealing drugs because I have no more money and have stolen or sold everything I could! As I began selling drugs, I made good money.

"Then I began using the drugs more for myself. It got me into trouble with my dealers and they hounded me," said Donny, who is struggling to recover, only after experiencing that his drug use was increasingly becoming more painful that staying clean.

Crisis

The economic and political crisis have made the drug scene worse. Selling drugs is a very lucrative, profitable business. So, our Indonesian economic crisis, if anything, has only spurred people to turn their heads toward drug dealing as a source of income and helped create more abusers and addicts. Drug dealers are using various competitive marketing strategies to grab customers, with an alluring promise of fun and escape from worry and stress.

And the amount of money changing hands is huge. If an abuser or addict spends Rp 100,000 a day, and recognizing that Indonesia has reportedly 1.3 million drug abusers and addicts, the amount spent on drugs here, then, would be about Rp 130 billion each day. It could be better spent to help others during these times of political and economic crises.

Peter Piot of UNAIDS, in a press release earlier this year, stated that the economic crisis has caused nearly 20 percent of young Indonesian girls to drop out of school in the 1998/1999 school year. His biggest concern is that these young girls, without education and employable skills, will drift into high risk behaviors such as drug use and prostitution. In addition, in drug circles, young girls often sell sex to get drugs. Sex workers also use alcohol and drugs to mask their pain. "Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n Roll" still holds true today within the Drug Culture. This means sexually transmitted diseases, aside from crime and violence, will inevitably be a large part of our drug problem package.

Hepatitis and AIDS are also serious threats to drugs users. According to UNAIDS, 700,000 young people aged 10 to 24 are infected with HIV in Asia, yearly. UN officials have reported that heroin addiction is responsible for 65 percent of new HIV infections nationwide in Vietnam. Jakarta has about 130,000 drug users today in the age range of 15 to 24. Experts say that 40 percent are estimated to be Injecting Drug Users. So, it looks like we will see much of the same in Indonesia. We need to make a combined and coordinated effort to face the challenges this problem brings.

The writers are AIDS and addiction consultants.