Police save 400,000 would-be drug users

Trading and circulating narcotics is a social crime terribly destructive to the younger generation but responded to only as a routine crime. The mass media has often reported the detention of drug traffickers and suppliers, but so far there has been no effect.

Is that response due to the fact that drug addicts, including addicted youths, and their parents usually keep quiet about their cases because they prefer to keep the disgrace secret from others? Does the handling of such cases by the police or court verdicts not provide sufficient deterrent to drug traffickers/suppliers? Is it due to misleading remarks like "every time the police capture drug traffickers or users the price of narcotics goes down?"

Amid the emergence of so many problems, narcotic crimes should not be ignored as these crimes are terribly detrimental to the younger generation.

We appreciate the successes the police have made and their determination to continue the eradication or the war against drug traffickers. The people should take more effective steps by supporting or participating in efforts to eliminate narcotic crimes. The community should keep watch on their environment, but avoid taking the law into their own hands. The courts should hand down fair decisions by taking account of the deterrent impact on drug traffickers and would-be traffickers as well as users and society.

-- Kompas, Jakarta