Most drug users are victims, not criminals, expert says
JAKARTA (JP): The government's threat to send Ecstasy users to jail received a mixed reaction from health and law experts on Saturday.
Users of Ecstasy stimulant pills do not deserve imprisonment like criminals because they are only victims, health expert Azrul Azwar said.
"People who resort to using Ecstasy to escape life's bitter realities are actually victims who need medical treatment and should not be imprisoned like criminals," said Azrul, chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association.
Minister of Health Sujudi issued a ministerial decree on July 17, an amendment to a previous regulation on certain dangerous drugs that was issued in 1993.
The regulation mandates a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment or Rp 140 million in fines for those caught in possession of the drug without a doctor's prescription.
Azrul considered the seven years maximum sentence as being out of proportion with the offense. He did not however suggest an alternative.
"It is all a matter of perception. Putting them behind bars certainly would not solve the problem because they would be labeled as criminals," Azrul told The Jakarta Post, adding that imprisoning them would only darken the victims' future.
But legal expert Mohammad Assegaf said that the sentences stipulated in the regulation are suitable for the violation.
"Except for 'tripping' at discotheques, I have not yet seen other detrimental effects of the drug that paves the way to a life of criminal conduct," Assegaf told the Post.
"Tripping" is a word created by rave party goers to describe the state of extreme euphoria achieved by an Ecstasy user, usually seen rolling his or her head around after taking a pill.
According to Assegaf, Ecstasy's notoriety is largely linked to a bunch of people "having fun," escaping from their daily routines and no cases of severe addiction have been reportedly linked to criminal conduct.
"Addiction to Ecstasy is not the same as addiction to narcotic substances," Assegaf said.
Physicians or pharmacists caught abusing their authority to prescribe substances considered dangerous drugs risk being arrested or having their practice permits revoked.
Azrul said that long-term use of Ecstasy can damage the nervous system and its long-term health hazards and the unproductivity it creates among the younger generation are unacceptable.
Prior to the ministerial regulation, the police had been hampered in their fight against Ecstasy because no specific law can be used to prosecute either traffickers and users.
Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman has said that judges are expected to be innovative in handling cases linked to Ecstasy as a bill on psychotropic drugs is currently under deliberation in the House of Representatives. (14)