NGOs establish body in campaign to fight drug abuse

NGOs establish body in campaign to fight drug abuse

JAKARTA (JP): Some 200 Jakarta-based non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) joined hands in a massive campaign against
drugs by establishing a consortium on Wednesday to consolidate
all their forces and resources into creating a drug-free capital,
an official said.

"We realize that working alone is not enough to achieve our
common goal," Imron Fadhil Syam of the People Against Drugs
(Geram) movement told reporters at City Hall.

He said the group, namely Konsorsium Program Pemberantasan
Penyalahgunaan Narkotika, included various institutions, such as
youth and students organizations and antidrug organizations.

"We have three main programs to be carried out: community
empowerment programs, control programs and therapy and
rehabilitation programs," Imron said.

Another executive, Tri Mulyati of the Wisma Adiksi
rehabilitation center in Cinere, South Jakarta, said the number
of drug addicts treated at the drug addict unit at Fatmawati
Hospital in South Jakarta increased every year.

"There were 1,779 cases in 1996, 3,652 cases in 1997, 5,008
cases in 1998 and 8,170 cases in 1999," she said, while citing
Fatmawati Hospital as the only hospital which had a special drug
addict treatment unit in Indonesia.

Quoting the World Health Organization (WHO) standard, Tri said
there were 10 drug addicts for every case reported.

"Therefore, based on Fatmawati Hospital's data, roughly there
are 80,000 to 100,000 people with drug problems," she said.

Herman Soeparman of the Family of Drugs Addicts (KKN) said
there were more than two million active drug users nationwide.

"There are also some 4.5 million seasonal addicts, who use
drugs on certain occasions only," he said, adding that there were
only some 10,000 addicts who had been rehabilitated.

He said Indonesia was one step behind Malaysia and Singapore
in handling drug problems.

"Malaysia and Singapore made sufficient preparations in the
1970s, by establishing several rehabilitation centers," he said.

Malaysia, with a population of 24 million, has some 50
rehabilitation centers, while Singapore has 15 centers with a
population of four million. Meanwhile, Indonesia only has about
20 centers for its more than 200 million population, he added.

Subagyo of the Karya Bakti Foundation said the increasing
number of drug addicts showed the government's failure in
handling the matter.

"It's partly because Indonesia is such a vast country with so
many problems. People use drugs to forget their daily problems,"
he said.

"Another reason is that we have improper facilities and
limited officials with sufficient skills."

He said law enforcement was very weak as there were loop holes
in the antidrug laws and regulations.

He also blamed the limited number of rehabilitation centers in
the country.

"Not all rehabilitation centers have a high standard of
operation. We will set up a standard for them," Subagyo said.

Tri said the activists had warned the government that the
distribution of ecstasy would lead users to heroin.

"The government didn't do anything to respond to the
activists' warning of ecstasy distribution. And now it's proven
that heroin is widely distributed here," she said.

She said it was expensive to rehabilitate drug addicts as
costs reached Rp 3 million per month, with a rehabilitation
period of six months to one year for each addict.

"We are trying to create a low-cost mechanism where low-income
addicts can be treated. We'll cooperate with local community
health centers (Puskesmas)." (05)