Police establish new clinic for drug addicts

Police establish new clinic for drug addicts

JAKARTA (JP): City police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata
inaugurated a new clinic for drug addicts in East Jakarta
yesterday.

Nazatra Clinic, which is owned and managed by Jakarta Police,
occupies a renovated three-story building located on the same
site as the police-owned Pamardi Siwi Rehabilitation Center for
drug addicts on Jl. Let. Jen. MT Haryono.

The clinic, which is open around-the-clock, is equipped with
general medical facilities, including USG (ultrasonography), an
X-ray machine, psychiatric clinic, laboratory and drug store.

In his speech, Hamami said Nazatra Clinic was established to
cope with the significant increase in public demand for drug
addicts to receive proper medical treatment.

"It is, I think, the first clinic in the city which was been
especially dedicated to providing medical information and
treatment to drug abusers," the two-star general said.

Hamami said that the clinic's establishment is also intended
to inform people that police are not only qualified to handcuff
drug users and dealers but also to help rehabilitate and save
them.

"We're just getting started. We know we can't help all the
victims, but at least we can start by helping a small number of
them."

Hamami said drug users needed support because they could not
solve their addiction problems on their own.

He said that the number of drug addicts in the city had risen
significantly in line with the large-scale distribution of drugs
here.

"I see that our country has started to become more than a
transit point for some international drug syndicates."

He said the confiscation of 13 kilograms of first-grade heroin
allegedly smuggled by dozens of foreigners in the past three
months had proven his point.

Nazatra Clinic will give priority to the drug addicts being
treated at the neighboring Pamardi Siwi center.

Lt. Col. TH. Tati Sugiarti, head of the new clinic, said she
hoped that it could assist the patients of Pamardi Siwi deal with
their physical addictions.

Tati said that 82 people were undergoing treatment at Pamardi
Siwi Rehabilitation Center, which has a 112-patient capacity.

"Eighteen of the 82 people are women," she said. "All the
patients are under 21 years of age and were brought here by their
parents."

Patients are taught to be disciplined during their stay in the
center, she said.

They are also provided with new information and skills which
can help them forget about drugs and improve themselves, she
said.

"They live by strict rules here. They sleep in the barracks,
are not allowed to smoke or go outside of the center's gates. And
they stay here for at least four months."

She said only a few former patients needed to come back for a
second stint at the center.

Tati refused to disclose the admission fees for the new clinic
but said that Pamardi Siwi patients had to pay monthly meal bills
of Rp 100,000 (US$23) per person. (cst)