Prevention vital to free youth from drug abuse

Prevention vital to free youth from drug abuse

JAKARTA (JP): An official of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports Makmuri Muchlas stressed yesterday the importance of
preventing Indonesian youths abusing drugs and other substances.

Muchlas said preventative measures were needed to maintain
alertness and productivity in young people.

He was speaking at a four-day international conference on drug
abuse with participants from 32 countries.

He said cooperation with local, regional and international
organizations and universities was necessary because of his
department's limited staff and budget.

He cited efforts made by Bakolak, a government body formed in
1971, and the Bersama Foundation, established by the late First
Lady Tien Soeharto.

The programs include Say No to Drugs club and Youth Federation
against Drug Abuse in cooperation with the National Youth
Council.

Although Bakolak did not have the power of a taskforce as in
Malaysia and Singapore, it had the authority to prevent drug
abuse and juvenile delinquency which could be coordinated further
with the United Nations, he said.

Muchlas said Singapore and Malaysia were actively involved at
regional and international levels to develop further techniques
to solve the drug problem, particularly Ecstasy.

He discussed measures to fight the problem including
technology transfer on methodologies on illicit drug prevention
and control, technical assistance to control and prevent drug
abuse from regional and international organizations and from
developed countries.

The problems he listed were young people getting too general
an education, poor supervision and control of legal channels and
light sentencing for convicted drug traffickers.

Although Muchlas did not give exact figures of drug addicts,
he said they have always been conservatively estimated at just
0.05 percent of Indonesia's population.

He said statistics could be compiled at local level through
universities and local statistics bureaus to get a national
average on the level of Indonesian drug abuse.

An Indonesian participant, Willy Karamoy, said the
conservative figure could be multiplied by 10 to estimate a more
realistic number of Indonesian drug abusers.

Muchlas said it was essential local communities take
responsibility, along with government and non-government
organizations, for combating drug abuse.

Above all, he said primary prevention, or preventing drug
abuse at a family or household level, was the key to a drug-free
society.

University of Indonesia professor Ascobat Gani said the
worldwide illegal drug business was highly lucrative, worth
US$150 billion annually plus the cost to the lives of families,
children and companies.

He said Ecstasy use cost its victims US$1.6 million in
Indonesia annually. (01)