President wants tougher penalty for drug dealers

President wants tougher penalty for drug dealers

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has called for the imposition
of harsher punishment against drug dealers in a bid to help curb
the alarming increase in drug abuse in the country, an official
said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the President, chairman of
National Drugs Coordinating Board Comr. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar
underlined the importance of amending the existing law on drugs
and psychotropic substances to stipulate more severe punishment
for drug dealers.

"We need to impose harsher punishment and if necessary we need
to impose the death sentence for the drug dealers as a
deterrent," Bachtiar said quoting the President.

He said that the death sentence for drug dealers was needed
because currently it was only imposed on drug producers.

Due to the widespread distribution of illegal drugs, the
country needs to impose harsher punishment, he said.

"The President expressed concern over the rise in the
incidence of drug abuse cases and suggested that there should be
a national campaign against drugs. The public should be informed
about the consequences of drug abuse," Bachtiar added.

The country has repeatedly imposed the death sentence for
drugs producers, mostly against foreigners.

Megawati, during her last visit to nine member countries of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), also urged
that the coming ASEAN summit in November discuss problems related
to drug abuse.

The President also underlined the importance of handling drug
abuse cases in tandem with the effort to curb the spread of
HIV/AIDS in the country.

"Around 40 percent of drug abusers finally suffer from
HIV/AIDS because the disease spreads through the sharing of used
syringes among drugs users," he said.

An estimated 3.4 million people, or a quarter of Jakarta's
total population, are known to be drug abusers, according to data
disclosed in a survey conducted by a consortium of non-
governmental organizations, the Program for Management and
Eradication of Drugs and Narcotics Abuse (P4) in rehabilitation
centers for drug addicts, schools and public places in Jakarta
last year.

In 1999 the number of estimated drug abusers stood at only two
million people.